You're Perfect
by Owl and Crow
Summary: VERY AU PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTE! It's been five years since Edward broke up with Bella, he's looked all over the world for her but hasn't been able to find her. Where's she been and why can't Alice see her future anymore?
1. Prologue: All The Stuff

**PLEASE READ BEFORE BEGINNING STORY!!!!**

**A/N: This story has been rummaging around my head for quite a while. Before you enjoy this story (and I hope you do enjoy it) there are a few details that I'd like to explain. This universe that Bella is currently residing in is completely made up by me. When I call a certain species "Pagan" I'm not talking about the polytheistic religion practiced by most ancient peoples. I'm talking about yet another thing made up by me. I hopefully explain it well in the story, but if not just click on my profile and their will be a detailed explanation. Thank you for reading and please enjoy.**

I've included a table on contents because I've finished writing this story. I'll update regularly when I remember.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bella or Edward or Jasper or Alice or Charlie or Emmett or Rosalie or Esme or Carlisle or anybody else that Stephanie Meyer came up with. But I do own quite a bit of this story so if any of you thieving bastards think to steal any of it I will find you and I will cut you… Have pleasant day.

"I know that is wrong against your bravery. But you are worth more alive than you ever will be dead. And sometimes it is wisest to hide now and fight later rather to stand now and die." – Danielle (From one of my other stories).

**Table of Contents**

Prologue

All The Stuff That's Important for The Plot

Chapter One

Five (or Sixty) Years Ago

Chapter Two

Time To Let Go

Chapter Three

Allegra Renee Cullen

Chapter Four

Aunts, Uncles, Grandma and Grandpa

Chapter Five

Missing Bella

Chapter Six

Denali Cometh

Chapter Seven

Juice Box Wishes and Cinnamon Roll Dreams

Chapter Eight

The Most Telling

Chapter Nine

The Things We Can't See

Chapter Ten

The Wolf's Call

Chapter Eleven

The Jacobean Era

Chapter Twelve

And the Bad News Abounds

Chapter Thirteen

The Brave Will Take Flight

Chapter Fourteen

Home

Chapter Fifteen

Past Anger, Future Discussions

Chapter Sixteen

Proposals, Both Pleasant and Un

Chapter Seventeen

B.S. = Bull… Sh!

Chapter Eighteen

Bullies and Cowards Make it Worth Our Time

Chapter Nineteen

Nap Time

Epilogue

All Those Things Important for Emotional Satisfaction

**You're Perfect**

Prologue

All The Stuff That's Important for The Plot

Isabella Swan (a.k.a. Melody Bird) had been asleep for the past three weeks. She would get up every once and awhile to eat or go the bathroom or shower, but she would always end up back in bed for the majority of the day. She would have found this odd if she was conscious long enough to actually wake up.

The truth was that Bella Swan was pregnant. She just didn't know it yet.

Three weeks ago was the sixtieth anniversary of the day Edward Cullen broke up with her. She really should have been over it by then, she was seventy eight after all, but for whatever reason, she still longed for her vampire beau. So, in a fit of stupidity and drunkenness she slept with her partner, knowing that he had two children from previous relationships that he cared nothing for. He was unusually fertile but Bella was drunk, all logical thinking went out the window. She was sad and sleeping with a guy she thought of as a perverted idiot seemed like a great idea.

He was much older than her (by about two thousand years) and looked somewhere between twenty five and thirty. He was a good looking guy and if she hadn't known him so well she probably would have fallen for his charm long before she actually did. Her best friend Hannah had, but that ninety five year old voyeur only got an orgasm out of the encounter. Hannah looked a lot younger than Jon, Bella's partner and father of her unborn child, not only because she was younger then him but because she chose to look younger. The youngest Bella could look was eighteen, because that was how old she was when she became Dien. But for the most part she preferred to look about twenty.

The Dien, a race of immortal, ageless people are damn near impossible to kill and that was good for Bella, because her line of work was dangerous and to be honest dying wasn't in the game plan. The traditional way of being turned into the Dien or any other Pagan specie (for there were many) was through sex. Bella was turned through an ingenious little shot that hurt like hell for about five seconds. After that nothing ever hurt, ever again. Well, physically hurt anyway.

Living a painless life was one of the many perks of being Dien. Being completely toxic was another. Bella's hair, her saliva, her skin, especially her blood was completely and utterly poisonous. Certainly things, like her blood were more toxic than others. Her saliva, for example, was only harmful if ingested in mass quantities.

When she was learning about what it meant to be Dien from the king of Tunisia, her new home land, she had to laugh when she found out about her blood. Her blood, so much sweeter than any other persons' that had caused so much trouble in her past, was now so dangerous it could melt steel. She had used her blood as a weapon on one occasion and the brutal death of her enemy kept her from doing so ever again.

She still had nightmares about the screaming.

For the most part Bella didn't regret her decision to become Dien. James, the king, had made her immortal in the most comfortable way possible. He had even let her stay at his palace while she was training. His beautiful and clumsy wife, LilyAnn, had been a surrogate mother to her and a shoulder to cry on when thoughts of Edward and the life she left behind became too much. She still visited Charlie and Renee regularly, but never stayed long. It was odd being older than your parents and Bella didn't like dwelling on the fact that while sixty years had passed for her, only five had passed for them. One year for each month. (re-read author's note or check out profile if confused)

The reason that Bella had been asleep for the past three weeks was simple. Since Dien can re-grow any limb cut or pulled off, heal any wound no matter how severe and can go months without breathing, years without eating or drinking water, they tended to live very dangerous lives. And why not? They didn't have to worry about healing; it would happen within seconds of being wounded. So why not jump off a cliff, or run into battle without a weapon or armor? It's not like it would hurt.

But Dien women were, for some reason, just as likely to have a miscarriage early on in the pregnancy as any other species. So, when the Dien body figures out that it's pregnant a hormone is released into the brain instructing it to sleep for at least a month. After a month the child has grown the gland necessary to induce immediate healing and the threat of miscarriage has passed.

Bella had one more week of sleeping before this happened, but unfortunately she wasn't going to get that week of rest. Hannah had waited as long as she could for her friend to call her and wish her a happy ninety sixth birthday. The short red head had a key to Bella's home and used it to let herself in. She had no idea Bella was pregnant but she did know what signs to look for. She had graduated with a doctorate in medicine fifty years ago when she fancied herself a doctor. That hadn't panned out quite the way she had planned. Hannah envied Bella for many reasons, but the one thing she envied most was Bella's understanding of herself. Bella knew what she wanted out of life and didn't need to dilly dally around in university to figure it out.

Hannah had met Bella when they were enlisted by the king (turned emperor) to look after his son Harold, the heir to the throne. The little guy had gotten himself in a bit of trouble, by walking off one day when he was only six months old and James decided that he needed two full time nannies/ body guards. Hannah found something of a kindred spirit in Bella and two had been best friends ever since. They had fought side by side during the war and had protected each other's back almost as much as they protected their emperor. Thankfully everything had worked out in their favor.

But it seemed to Hannah that Bella had changed after the war. She didn't want to do her job anymore, and that was an issue. The only reason that James agreed to turn Bella into a Dien was so that she could her job. The only way she could get out of her job was if her life took some sudden unexpected turn.

Like if she got pregnant. Or fell in love.

Nothing was more sacred to the Pagans than love. The only thing that all of the species had in common was the ability to know true love at first sight. Bella didn't think she would ever fall in love and she had done plenty of looking. This little fact was something that scared Bella to no end. She had a hunch that if she looked at Edward, her heart would sing and she would know for certain who her true love was. That scared her because Edward had told her he didn't love her anymore. And even after all these years and telling herself countless times that he didn't really mean it, part of her still believed him.

A less pessimistic part of her mind was influencing the dream she had been having for the past three weeks. It was dream about Edward, but not one that she woke up screaming from. It was a pleasant dream, one in which he climbed through her window at Charlie's house and told her that everything he said when he broke up with her was a lie and that he still loved her and that he would beg for her forgiveness if only she would take him back. It was a nice dream, because it gave her hope. It was also a dream that was getting increasingly steamier as time went on. They were about to race towards home plate when Hannah bound into Bella's room and started jumping on her bed.

"Arghh!" Bella moaned pulling her pillow over her head. "What do you want?!" Hannah stopped jumping and sat down on Bella's legs.

"It was my birthday yesterday and you promised that we'd go a strip club and throw pennies at the naked boys until somebody grew a pair and kicked us out," Hannah said.

Bella pushed the pillow away from her head and glared at the imp like creature currently pinning her legs to the bed. Hannah had long, straight, blood red hair that was completely natural. She dressed her short curvy figure in tight blue jeans and in shirts that were either mildly insulting or blatantly sexual. Written across her black shirt today was "Squeeze Here For Sex" in bold white lettering over both of her ample breasts. Hannah was a lot of things, subtle wasn't one of them.

"You're birthday can't have been yesterday, Hannah," Bella yawned. "It's got to be the 21st or something close to it."

"The 21st of October?"

"No, the 21st of September."

"Bella, it's that 10th of October," Hannah said, looking a little worried and confused. "I haven't heard from you since the 20th of September, if that helps. But then again, you are a terrible friend so I'm not holding it against you or anything," she added lightly.

Bella sat up. "What do you mean it's the 10th of October? It can't be the 10th of October. If it's the 10th of October than that mean I've been sleeping for the past three weeks!"

"Well, I haven't heard from you in three weeks so you probably have been sleeping that long."

"Okay, that doesn't make any sense. Wouldn't I be aware of sleeping for that long?" Bella asked. She was still deathly tired, but fear and the knowledge that Hannah would hit her kept her from falling back to sleep.

"Not if you're pregnant. Big Jane, you know the girl I went to high school with who got knocked up by her no good boyfriend when she was sixteen, fell asleep in the middle of World History and Mr. Pinto had to drive her home because she could stay awake long enough to walk. Anyway I asked her about it and she said that the four weeks she was sleeping for passed with the blink of an eye, she didn't even know she was pregnant until she woke and her mother told her."

Bella stared at Hannah for a long moment, her mind completely blank. Most of what Hannah said was useless plot related details that didn't really pertain to the issue at hand, but a few key words stuck out and made Bella stop and take notice. Like the word pregnant. She knew Jon had kids and that he had had those kids the only two times in his life that he hadn't used protection. And if Bella remembered correctly she had been too drunk to think of using a condom.

"Are you telling me that I'm pregnant?" Bella asked.

"I don't know. But I do know that after a month in bed you start showing. So get out of bed and let's have a look." Hannah got off of Bella's legs and helped her out of bed.

She stumbled over to the full length mirror in her master bathroom and moaned at the image reflected back. It was small, but there was certainly a little bump between her hips that hadn't been there three weeks ago. Bella put her hands over the bump and felt around as gently as she could manage. She couldn't feel anything baby-like and that was a relief. She didn't want to have Jon's child. He was insufferable. She only worked with him when she had to and barely talked to him when she did.

If anything she wanted to have Edward's baby. A little boy with his golden bronze hair and green eyes. She could see that precious little child in her mind's eye and she loved it, even though she knew she could never have it.

"So, who's the daddy?" Hannah asked from the doorway.

"Jon," Bella sighed. "Do you think it's too late to have an abortion?"

"Do you really want one?"

"No, but I don't want to have Jon's baby. You know what he's like. Can you imagine another one of him running around?"

"You really know nothing about Dien biology, do you?" Hannah asked.

"I came here to do a job, when I got here I learned what I had to about my anatomy, trained and then did that job. Learning the biology behind my bodily functions wasn't high on my to-do list," Bella said, sourly. She desperately wanted to go back to bed, she was so tired she'd have curled up on the bathroom's marble floor if it meant she could have a little more sleep.

"That baby is Jon's only in its creation. Here's a little lesson so listen up and don't fall back to sleep, I will hit you." Bella rolled her eyes. "Sixty percent of your body is made up of water, thirty percent is organs and blood and other stuff, the last ten percent is pure, unadulterated magic. Through sheer force of will you can make that baby into someone else's child. Not just in looks but in ability, attitude and sometimes genetics."

"Are you saying that if I wanted, this baby could be Edward's?" Bella asked.

"I'm saying that if you wanted, that baby could be mine," Hannah said.

"This baby could be Edward's right down to its genes?"

"Hell yeah. The magic might only be ten percent of your general make up, but it's damn powerful stuff, especially since you're a pure blooded Dien. There's no Siren or Nymph DNA in you screw with the power level," Hannah said, but Bella wasn't listening. She'd heard what she needed to hear.

All she needed to do now was stay awake long enough to make an educated decision about her future and the future of her baby. Her hand travel back to her baby bump and Bella knew what she was going to do. Edward might not love her, he might be really mad if he ever found out about this baby, hell he might be thrilled, she didn't know. But that didn't change her mind.

Bella wanted her baby to have bronze hair and green eyes. She wanted her baby to be remarkably gifted and smart. She wanted her baby to be Edward's with all her heart. If her baby was Edward's she wouldn't be afraid. Her baby would be wonderful, happy and good.

How could it not be, with such a dazzling father?


	2. Five Or Sixty Years Ago

A/N: Bella left shortly after Jacob turned into a werewolf, but before she ran into Laurent in the field. Laurent never leaves Denali in this story.

Chapter One

Five (or Sixty) Years Ago

Edward came back to Forks, Washington exactly one year after breaking up with Bella and breaking his own heart. Initially Edward hadn't planned on bothering Charlie. He figured that the police chief wouldn't be very happy with him and would thus be less likely to help him get back on his daughter's good side. That plan went out the window when Edward realized that Bella was no where to be found.

Her scent lingered around the house, barely there and she never showed up.

He waited hours, days, weeks, but she never appeared. More scared then he cared to admit, he called Carlisle for help. He didn't really want to bother his family, but with Bella missing all of the things he'd initially planned on went missing too. Even though Edward only called Carlisle the whole family showed up, even Rosalie. They all in turn tried to smell her out, but as the days passed her scent began vanishing even from Charlie's house.

Alice was looking all over the future for her, but couldn't see anything.

It was like she had just disappeared entirely which would only happen if she had died. Edward refused to even entertain that idea, mostly because it would kill him and partially because Charlie didn't seem upset enough. If his daughter had died, surely Alice would have seen it and Charlie would have been devastated. But neither of those things was true.

So with Carlisle and Jasper by his side, he went and asked Charlie about Bella.

Charlie fidgeting on the couch, obviously uncomfortable sitting a room with three vampires. Even though Edward knew Charlie had no idea what they were, he was uncomfortable nonetheless. Jasper made Charlie far more willing to divulge what had actually happened, but unfortunately he didn't really know.

"Bella came home from Port Angeles one day," Charlie had said. "She was with a man named James." Edward could see him in Charlie's mind. He was tall, regal looking with messy black hair and an expensive red velvet coat. His hazel eyes were expressionless, like he already knew everything and was bored with all of it. He held his head high, his back ram rod straight and any time he smiled, it never reached his eyes.

"He said he had job for Bella abroad. He said the job was in some country in Europe. I can't really remember everything he said. Bella was packing while he was talking to me, I knew she was going to go and that there was nothing I could do to stop her. She was eighteen, there was nothing I could do. She dropped out of school and left the next day."

Edward was wrong. Charlie was devastated, it was just easier for him to ignore it by not thinking about Bella. Edward just wished that he could stop thinking about her too. All sorts of horrible ideas bombarded his mind. Was she dead and Charlie didn't know about it? Was she hiding because she never wanted to see him again? Had she been kidnapped and hurt by this James?

But not one of those scenarios explained why Alice couldn't see her.

It was almost as if she had disappeared from the world entirely. Which was in fact, exactly what she had done. Edward just didn't know that yet. The truth of the matter is simply this: the Dien don't live within the same dimension of reality that the rest of them did. It wasn't that Alice couldn't see Bella's future, just that Bella didn't want her to, and so she didn't. If Bella reached out with her mind, relaxed her natural mental shield and let Alice take a glimpse at her future, Alice would see plenty of things she never would have thought Bella was capable of. And that was precisely why Bella didn't do that.

"Edward," Carlisle called, breaking Edward's concentration. He had been trying to break through Charlie's shield and see anything the police chief might have missed when Bella left or possibly forgot to mention or anything, anything at all he might have lied about. But there was nothing.

She called sometimes, visited with no regularity. Sometimes she came twice a month, sometimes once a week, but she always left so quickly. And in these tiny blurry memories, Edward noticed something horrifying. Bella was aging. Rapidly aging. She went from looking eighteen when she left to looking somewhere around twenty five when she came back seven months later.

_Edward_. This time the call was mental. Carlisle was worried. Bella was gone and no body, not even Charlie, knew where she went. _Alice is still looking for her. We can't give up hope._

They were staying at their old house in Forks. Only Alice had packed before coming back and even she hadn't brought much. None of them thought this would happen.

Carlisle was being patient, as usual, trusting that Alice would come up with something that would ease everyone's worries. Esme was trying to be patient, but was far too worried about Bella and Edward to do much else. Rosalie was irritated at Bella, which really shouldn't have surprised Edward. She always made everything about herself.

_If she had stayed here like Edward told her to, none of this would have happened. I could be shopping right now or fixing up my car or…_

Edward tuned her out. Bella rarely did anything he told her to. It was one of the things he loved most about her. He never really knew what she was going to do. At one time he found that exhilarating, right now he found it horrifying.

A sense of calm flowed through him and he latched onto Jasper's thoughts. He was focusing on Alice, whose mind was a whorl wind of visions- none of them making much sense or having to do with the issue at hand. Jasper was worried because Alice was worried. She had a rather large Bella shaped blind spot and neither of them liked it. Well, Edward didn't either, but he tried to keep his irritation to himself. Alice was doing the best she could. Only it wasn't good enough.

The only thing that Alice knew for certain was that Bella never would become a vampire… Ever. That vision was gone along with all other visions of his sweet smelling mortal.

Emmett surprised Edward most. If the situation had been different, Edward would have pocked fun at him. Usually Emmett never let anything get to him, but Bella's vanishing act seemed to shake him to the core. He was upset and he really didn't like that. The melancholy that hung over the whole house was hardly dampened by Jasper's gift. Emmett's thoughts revolved around every memory he had of Bella and how much Edward had changed after they left Forks. He was mostly worried about how this would affect Edward. As far as he was concerned Bella was a big girl. She could take care of herself.

Edward growled. Something was going on and it wasn't good. If his Bella needed help-- well, she was out of luck. There was no way he could get to her, to keep her safe. Bella couldn't walk across a flat surface without finding something to trip on. Sure she could take care of herself, but he didn't trust her not to trip in front of a bus.

"I can take care of myself, Emmett," Edward snapped. "It's Bella you should be worrying about." Rosalie sighed, dramatically and rolled her eyes.

Emmett just shook his head. "You fell apart when we left, Edward. We were all hoping that Bella would be able to put you back together, but she's gone."

"What I don't understand," Esme whispered, "is why Charlie didn't insist on knowing exactly where she was going."

"We've got to be missing something," Jasper said. "Some vital clue that will explain everything."

_I'm missing something,_ Alice thought. _I'm so sorry, Edward._

Edward shook his head. It wasn't Alice's fault, though he'd really like to blame her. If he hadn't been so stupid about their relationship, so stupid to think that leaving her was the only way to protect her. Rosalie was wrong, none of this would have happened _if he hadn't been so damn stupid!_

He'd just have to look. He would look forever if he had to.

---5 (or 60) years later---

Edward looked up at Charlie Swan's house bitterly. A strange smell lingered around the house. It smelled something like Bella, but not quite right. Charlie's mind was wrapped around his new wife, Sue. He was happy, content and some of that had to do with Bella. She had come to visit recently and told Charlie something that made him very happy. But Charlie's mind was too out of focus for him to tell what exactly she had said.

It had been five years, much too long for Edward to confront him. Charlie would be too concerned with Edward's perpetually young face to accurately answer any of his questions. Sue's mind was much clearer, she had been out when Bella came to visit and Charlie was very tight lipped about it. Sue thought it was odd, but Charlie had always had an odd relationship with his daughter.

Edward desperately wanted to throw caution to the wind, barge through the door and demand information. That was probably why both Emmett and Jasper insisted on coming with him. But that didn't really matter. If Charlie was happy that meant that Bella was happy. And he could live with that.

He had to. It was the only thing that kept him sane.

Emmett twitched with impatience. Jasper was irritated and it was putting both Edward and Emmett on edge. He wasn't irritated with Edward exactly, but Edward's presence wasn't exactly helpful. Alice spent a few hours a day searching the future for any glimpse of Bella, and when she failed (which she always did) she was sad no matter how much joy Jasper directed at her. Edward knew that Alice didn't do this just for him but for herself too. Jasper knew that, but it didn't stop him from being irritated.

Emmett grumbled. "What's going on in there, Edward?" he asked.

"Charlie got remarried. Bella visited a few days ago and told him some good news but I can't tell what. He didn't tell Sue what Bella told him, but he's thrilled about it."

"If she told Charlie she probably told Renee too," Jasper said.

"And you can read Renee's mind perfectly," Emmett said.

"You're probably right," Edward muttered. Emmett pulled out his cell phone.

"I'll call Carlisle, have him get us some tickets to Jacksonville."

Before Emmett could finish dialing Edward's phone rang. It was Carlisle. "Come home, quickly. Alice is having a vision. A vision of Bella and the man she left with."

Edward took off like a bat out of hell, with Emmett and Jasper close on his heals. It took under a minute and the three of them flew through the door and up into the living room. Alice was hunched over on the couch with her fingers massaging her temples. Jasper sat down next to her and Edward focused on her mind.

_The man, James, was sitting behind a desk in a large office. Behind the desk was shelve after shelve of leather bound books. He was writing something with a quill pen, mumbling in language that was completely unintelligible. The door opened and Bella walked in. _Edward gasped at the vision of his mate._ Bella's belly was heavy, rounded and it was obvious she was pregnant. She sat down in front of James' desk. He kept writing for a few minutes before looking up. He smiled warmly, got up and went to her side. He kissed her cheek, kneeing down beside her._

"_Sweet Bella," he said. "You don't have to explain anything."_

"_Of course I do, James. You've taken care of me for so long. It's the least I can do," she said. His smile finally reached his eyes, it seemed as though this man truly care for Bella and only wanted what was best for her. "I need you to know that I didn't do this on purpose."_

"_Of course not," James said. "You never liked Jon, I can't imagine you'd use him to get out of doing your job."_

"_I made a promise to you, James. I'd never do anything to purposely get out of doing my job. No matter how much I didn't like it."_

"_That doesn't matter anymore. I'd never have you going out taking care of my dirty work now." He got up and went back to the chair behind his desk. "Or ever again if you so choose." He sat down with a sigh and looked fondly at Bella. "But I can guarantee you that I will be sure to ask. You're the best there is."_

"_Thank you, James. I'd never want you to regret choosing me."_

"_Before you go, I'd like to tell you why I did choose you."_

"_I must admit I've always been curious."_

"_I'd been looking for years. Not just in America, but all over your world. For just the right person. A broken person, a damaged person. If Edward hadn't left, I'd have never picked you. You see, Bella, when he left the only thing you had to live for was your body's desire not to die. Your misery meant that every time you go on a mission for me, I know that you will succeed, because if anything goes wrong you'd choose the mission over your own life. That's why you don't have to work for after you have your baby. You'll have something to live for and your work ethic would suffer."_

_Bella was quiet for a long time. And then, surprisingly, she smiled. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Being emperor means that you have to make choices that unpopular and unfriendly because it's what's best for the majority of the population. If my being damaged was the reason you picked me, then for the first time I can honestly say, I'm glad Edward broke up with me." Bella wrapped her arms around her inflated belly. "Because if he hadn't I wouldn't have this beautiful life growing inside of me."_


	3. Time To Let Go

Chapter Two

Time To Let Go

"That's your daddy, baby girl," Bella cooed. Bright green eyes looked up at her from the heart shaped face of her eleven month old daughter. Allegra Renee Cullen had been born the spitting image of her father. Her bronze hair now reached to her narrow hips and Bella often had to braid it and pin it up so that it wouldn't get her rambunctious child's way.

Allegra reached up and placed her dimpled hand onto Bella's cheek. The image before Bella's eyes obscured and transformed into the image running through Allegra's head. She saw her daughter in Edward's arms, him smiling down at her, with love gleaming in his amber eyes.

Bella pulled Allegra's hand from her cheek and the image faded into nothing. Allegra had gotten much more than her looks from Edward, but that fantastic gift as well. The image running through her daughter's head was one that Bella loved to hope for, but doubted all the same. She realized shortly after having Allegra that it was remarkable selfish of her to make this child Edward's. He had said that he didn't love her anymore, she really needed to let it go.

But with Allegra as her constant little reminder, Bella doubted that she ever would. She guessed that that was all right. Allegra made most things all right.

Allegra pulled her hand out of Bella's and put it back on her cheek. The image was the same but the longing behind it intensified. Maybe it wasn't only unfair to Edward. Allegra wanted her daddy so much that the only way Bella could get her to sleep some times was to play the C.D. Edward made for her eighteenth birthday. She had found it and the two pictures of him hidden under a floor board in her room when she moved out of Charlie's house.

She framed the pictures after Allegra was born, figuring that someday her daughter would want to know what her father looked like. Though in Bella's opinion she could just as easily look in a mirror to see what Edward looked like. The pictures made her heart ache, but they kept Allegra happy so they stayed out.

The picture of Edward and Bella was on the mantle piece in the living room and the picture of Edward smiling up at her from the kitchen table was in Allegra's room.

Allegra sighed dramatically and pulled her hand away. Allegra could walk, but preferred to be carried, she could talk but preferred to simple put her demands directly into her mother's head and was so fiercely independent that her first words were, "I can do it!" It was in that moment that Bella realized what exactly she'd done when she decided that Edward was going to be the father of her baby.

She had made her daughter into a little female Edward.

Bella believed whole heartedly that most of Allegra's vast intelligence came from Edward. Dien babies mature mentally very quickly, far more quickly than their bodies mature. But Allegra was more intelligent than most Dien babies. She spoke fairly clearly and seemed to truly enjoy being taught how to speak correctly. When she did walk somewhere, Bella noticed that she probably got her balance from her mother. That never stopped her from moving around though. She was the fastest crawler that Bella had ever seen. She probably got that from Edward too.

Allegra started wiggling in Bella's arms. That meant she wanted to get down. She didn't say or show as much, Bella knew her well enough to know what she wanted.

Bella placed her on the floor and Allegra went off like a bat out of hell towards the kitchen muttering something about, "sinamon wrolls." Cinnamon rolls just happened to be her favorite food.

"She got her sweet tooth from you too, Edward," Bella said, smiling. She moved to follower her daughter when she heard a knock at the door. Three sharp bangs, that would be James. The emperor had given her a healthy amount of money when she gave birth and merely smiled knowingly when she handed in her resignation. She opened the door, inviting James and his five body guards in.

"What can I do for you, James?" she asked. Bella knew better than to bow to him. James hated it when people he respected bowed to him.

"It's funny you should ask me that," he said, folding himself into one of her plush leather chairs. Bella froze. "I know you don't exactly work for me anymore, but in your resignation you did say that you owe loyalty and fealty to me still."

"Who is it this time?" Bella whispered.

"There are five hit men that have been causing me a bit of trouble. I can't have them banding together, I can't have them knowing I'm coming after them. Which is why I need you to take care of this. No one is quite as subtle and efficient as you."

Bella fell onto her coach. Both she and James knew she'd do what he asked. She owed her life to him. He didn't ask much of her and she knew she was the best at her job. He wanted it done quickly and quietly and no one could do that better than Bella.

"How long do you think it'll take?" James grinned.

"For you, I'd say six months."

"Who's going to watch Allegra?"

"I don't know, but what I do know is that last night, everything evened out." Bella blinked at him.

"What?"

"Time evened out across all universes. Six months here is the same as six months in Forks. She could stay with your father."

"Or her father," Bella whispered as the thought occurred to her.

With careful instructions, Hannah could take Allegra to Edward as a sort of peace offering. Proof that she'd forgiven him. Hannah would have to make sure before hand that Edward even wanted the baby, but once she'd done that, Allegra could experience the longing that had plagued her thoughts since the day Bella had first shown her the pictures of Edward.

She couldn't go herself because James would expect her start her new assignment as soon as possible. But luckily Hannah was in the kitchen making cinnamon rolls with her baby at that very moment.

And if Edward didn't want her, Hannah could take care of her. It wasn't the best solution, but it was all Bella could think to do. Hannah wouldn't want to take care of her if she had any other option. She wasn't exactly the maternal type. But, hopefully, Edward _was_ the paternal type.

---

Edward was quiet. He hadn't said more than two words in three days. His Bella was pregnant. By a man she apparently despised. He knew that this Jon character must have been a bastard. His jealousy wouldn't let him be anything but. He also logically assumed that if his good, sweet Bella hated him, he must deserve it. She said that it was a mistake but one she was evidently glad to have made. If she was glad, then he was too.

It wasn't necessarily the pregnancy he was upset about, but the last thing she said in Alice's vision. She was glad, for the first time that he broke up with her. It was so… _Bella_ to be happy now about something made her sad before. That was Bella, a child, something she never hinted at wanting, made everything worth it.

Edward shook his head. The pregnancy did bother him, but not as much as her attitude. He was jealous, horribly jealous that another man had been with _his_ mate. He wanted to kill him, to cry, to kill himself. He never would. Just because he felt terrible right in that moment didn't mean he would always feel that way. Someday Bella might need him and he needed to be there for her… and her baby. He couldn't hate anything that Bella loved or anything that loved Bella.

And how could a child not love Bella, when she loved it so much.

The whole family had tried to engage him in several conversations. Rosalie was suddenly very interested in finding Bella, mostly because she wanted the child for herself. She never said as much, but Edward could feel the desire she felt for the baby. Emmett mistook her enthusiasm for caring about Bella's well being and Edward didn't correct him. Anything that got the family to help him find her was okay in his opinion.

Pregnancy brought on all sorts of risks. Many pregnant women were killed by the men who got them pregnant. If Jon so much as touched a hair on Bella's head, he'd kill the bastard.

Alice and Esme were both thrilled, of course. Even though they hadn't seen Bella in years they both still considered her part of the family. Esme tried not to think about it, but often couldn't help considering of herself as a grandmother. Bella was supposed to be with Edward after all. As far as she was concerned the child growing inside of Bella was Edward's. Alice was thrilled mostly because she had finally succeeded and found Bella happy.

Jasper was happy Alice was happy.

Carlisle was happy that Esme was happy.

Emmett was happy Rosalie was finally concerned about Bella.

Only Edward seemed upset for the right reasons. He didn't count Rosalie's worrying because it was selfish, as usual. He was sitting in the meadow he'd taken Bella to all those years ago. He remembered looking into her eyes and telling her he loved her. He hadn't said it in so many words, but he meant it with all his heart. How she could ever question his love, he had no idea. It was excruciating when he broke up with her. Not only because it was the end of their relationship, but because he could see in her eyes that she honestly believed he didn't love her anymore. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve her lack of faith, but he hated himself for it.

"Edward!" Alice's voice snapped him out of his pity party. He looked at her from where he sat perched on low boulder. "Enough. You've sat in silence for three days, you're making Esme sad." Alice showed him a vision of Esme dry crying after Carlisle came back without Edward and without having much to say about how he was. Edward sighed. He was miserable but that didn't mean he had to make everyone else miserable too.

_Someone's coming, Edward,_ Alice said. _She's a friend of Bella's._ Alice showed him what she'd seen. _A short red hair woman walked up to Carlisle and Edward. She extended her hand and said, "Hi, I'm Hannah."_


	4. Allegra Renee Cullen

A/N: I mean no disrespect to anyone from Germany or anyone of German descendent. It's just a joke. From here on out a majority of the story is going to be told from Edward's perspective. This chapter is a little short but it's meant as an introduction between Allegra and Edward. The next chapter is longer, I promise.

Chapter Three

Allegra Renee Cullen

"Hi, I'm Hannah." The short read head held out her hand to Edward, who grasped it awkwardly. She had on a violently red shirt with a picture of Poland on it, that proclaimed, rudely, "I'm Like German. If You Leave Anything Alone Long Enough, It's Mine." Not only was her shirt vaguely insulting but she smelled off and that made Edward uncomfortable. She had the same musky and poisonous scent that Bella's blood had taken on and her heart didn't beat regularly. She didn't seem to breathe as often as most humans did and Edward was beginning to suspect that she wasn't human at all.

He did believe that she knew Bella, because her thoughts were carefully guarded. She didn't dwell too long on any specific topic that popped up in her head. She didn't think about Bella or Bella's baby at all. Carlisle had come out with him initially, but went back inside to get Jasper and Emmett after he had caught a whiff of her unusual scent.

The very first oddity that surrounded her arrival was that no one heard her drive up to the house. They had been listening for her for two days, awaiting her coming with an air of anxiousness that hadn't gripped the house in years. This woman knew where Bella was and Edward would damn well figure out where _exactly_ that was. If Bella wouldn't come to him, he'd just have to go to her. His resolve only intensified after catching her strange smell.

"Hello, Hannah," Carlisle said, even though she hadn't addressed him. "I'm Carlisle and these are my sons. Jasper, Emmett and Edward." Hannah nodded at smiled at each of them in turn. Her smile widened when she reached Edward, but her thoughts gave nothing away.

"I'm sure you have lots of questions for me," Edward opened his mouth, "but before you ask me something I don't know the answer to, I'll just come out and say that I have no idea where Bella is. She off on a job right now, top secret, hushiedie- hush."

"She's on job?" Edward asked. "For the emperor?"

"Yup."

"But she's pregnant," Carlisle said, "isn't that dangerous?"

"First of all, she's not pregnant anymore and second of all, how did you know she got pregnant in the first place?" Hannah asked. "You know what? Why don't you just tell me what you know I'll fill in the blanks?"

"That sounds very reasonable, Hannah," Carlisle said. "Would you like to come inside? We've all been pretty anxious to meet you."

"Actually I'd be more comfortable staying out here, if you don't mind. Bella's baby is sleeping in the car and I'd rather not leave her alone out here," Hannah said.

"Bella's baby is here?" Edward demanded.

"Well, yeah, she's on a job and it's going to take a few months for her to finish it. She couldn't exactly leave her daughter home alone for six months."

"So, you're watching her?"

"She's the whole reason I'm here, but we're getting a head of ourselves. Bella's specifically said that she wanted you to have all the facts before you made any decision regarding her daughter."

"She's-" Edward began, but Hannah held up her hand to stop him.

"She's asleep in the car… do you want to see her?"

Edward nodded and followed Hannah over to the fancy sports car she came in. He had no idea what kind of car it was and the name of the car company wasn't familiar. Hannah pulled the back door open, tucked onto the smooth leather seat was a baby car seat and snuggled in that car seat was Isabella Swan's daughter.

Her angle face, soft rosy cheeks and mound after mound of coppery golden hair took Edward's breath away. She was a vision. Hannah stepped out of his way and knelt down next to her. Her dreams were indistinct like the dreams of most small children. Dispersed throughout her dreams were images of Bella. Bella smiling down at her. Bella feeding her bits pastry. Bella kissing her all over her face.

And then Edward saw an image of himself. He remembered that image. It was one of the two pictures that Bella had of him. When dreaming of this image, Bella's daughter sighed happily in her sleep.

"Why is she dreaming of me?" Edward whispered.

"Maybe because Bella told her that you were her father."

"Excuse me, what?" Someone asked from behind him.

Bella told her daughter that he was her father.

Bella told her daughter that he was her father.

Bella told her daughter that he was her father.

Bella told her daughter that he was her father.

The concept was mind boggling. Hannah was explaining the situation to Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper. He knew that he should be paying attention to what she was saying, that it was vitally important that he know about his daughter. _His _daughter. But all that matter to him in that moment was that Bella had given her daughter to him. He was sure this meant that she had forgiven him. Why else would she trust him with something so precious?

"What's her name?" he asked, cutting off Jasper who was probably asking a much more important question.

"Allegra Renee Cullen," Hannah said.

"Allegra," Edward whispered. He touched her cheek so gently that his skin barely grazed hers. She gasped in her sleep and Edward snatched in his hand away. She yawned widely and blinked up at him. Her brilliant green eyes widened as she took him in. After a moment her face split into a wide smile and she squealed happily. Edward was so captivated by her that he hardly noticed when Carlisle whispered:

"Edward's eyes."

He smiled. Edward didn't really remember what color his eyes had been when he was human, but if Carlisle said that _his_ daughter had _his_ eyes, than he believed him. Edward liked the thought of Allegra having his eyes. It meant that a little bit of him had somehow gotten into his daughter. She had the look of Bella in her rounded cheeks and curly hair. His influence on her appearance was more obvious, but Bella's was there enough to make his heart ache.

He'd seen in Allegra's dream just how much Bella loved her- _their_ daughter and how much their daughter loved her.

"Allegra," he whispered again.

Allegra started wiggling fiercely, pulling on the buckles that kept her in the car seat. Edward reached out to help her, but she pushed his hands away. He thought for one horrifying second that she was repulsed by his cold hard skin.

"I can do it, Daddy," she said. Edward grinned, his momentary worry forgotten. _Daddy_, he thought. _She called me Daddy._ Allegra did figure out the buckles and lunged into Edward's waiting arms. He vaguely heard Emmett ask:

"How old is she?"

"Eleven months," Hannah said.

Allegra pressed her little warm hands onto Edward's cheeks and his mind flooded with images of her and Bella. The first memory was of Bella holding her up under her arm pits showing her a picture of Edward smiling. The picture he'd seen in her dream. "That's your daddy, Miss Allegra," Bella said. Allegra squealed in the memory and pulled the picture into her arms, hugging it to her chest.

The image faded and morphed into another. Bella leaning over the side of her crib. "You don't plan on going to sleep any time soon, do you, baby girl?" Allegra shook her head. Bella smiled and moved out of sight. Suddenly the room was filled with the lullaby Edward composed. The image faded into another. Bella picked Allegra up and kissed her all over her face. "Do you know why I love you?" Allegra shook her head. "Because you're perfect." Allegra's bell like laugh filled the memory and Edward laughed too.

"Oh, what's she showing you?" Hannah asked.

"Bella," he said. "And me. Pictures Bella had of me. The first time she heard the lullaby I wrote for Bella. How much Bella loves her."

"Maybe we should give them a moment," Carlisle suggested.

Edward heard them leave. He barely noticed. The second he laid eyes on his daughter he was lost. There was no one else in the world. Just them. He used to think that his whole life became crystal clear five years ago in Bella's room when she said his name in her sleep, but he was wrong. He had been waiting his whole life for Allegra. He'd been born for her, turned into a vampire so that he could live long enough to love her.

"You are perfect," Edward whispered. Allegra giggled and wiggled in his arms.

"Daddy?" she said, with remarkable clarity. He smiled. He knew that his daughter would be smart. Eleven months old and able to speak clearly. She'd even recognized him from a picture. She was incredibly advanced for her age. It was really unbelievable the more Edward thought about it. He didn't want to think about it, really. He just wanted to spend the rest of forever in the happy little bubble around him and his daughter.

Edward could hear Hannah inside the house explaining things he probably should have been there to hear first hand. But he could hear well enough from where he was. And he didn't want to ever move from where he was.

"Yes, Allegra."

"Where was you? Before? Why wasn't you with me and Mommy?"

"Mommy and I decided to be away from each other for a little while. But we both still love each other very much. And we both love you very much," Edward said. He hoped that he wasn't lying to her. He knew the last part was true and was fairly certain about Bella loving him too. She had given him something so wonderful, for the first time in a long time he couldn't imagine her not loving him.


	5. Aunts, Uncles, Grandma and Grandpa

Chapter Four

Aunts, Uncles, Grandma and Grandpa

Edward knew now. He knew why Hannah and Bella and even his daughter didn't smell right. Didn't smell human. They weren't human. They were Dien and from what Edward heard about the Dien, he was okay with it, for the most part. He thought it was strange and improbable, but then again he spent seventeen years of his life thinking that vampires weren't real. It just figured that Bella would run into another immortal species right after her vampire friends left town.

Edward liked the fact that his daughter was indestructible. And that Bella was equally durable. Someone as clumsy as her needed to be harder to hurt.

He refused to let this new bit of information cloud the happiness that had permeated his being. Allegra made everything better, made everything feel realer somehow. Her presence in his life threw everything else into sharp relief. He knew now that he could take on forever without Bella if only he could have Allegra.

After Hannah explained about Allegra species and the reason that she looked so much like Edward, she started talking about his daughter's likes and dislikes. Her quirks and her amazing ability to put her thoughts into other peoples' heads. Yet another thing she had gotten from Edward. He listened eagerly to everything that Hannah said and watched a few memories float through her mind.

He was so entranced that he didn't notice when Allegra started getting antsy. She pressed her hand to his neck and showed him the faces of Carlisle, Emmett and Jasper. There was question behind the images, like she was asking him who they were. Edward smiled down at her.

"That's my family, Allegra," he said. The house went quiet. The only noise from within came from the irregular breathing of Hannah. "They're very excited to meet you. Soon, they're going to be your family to."

Allegra's thoughts warmed to the sentiment. She flipped through their imagines again. She lingered on Emmett and Jasper and Carlisle her thoughts going fuzzy and happy. Edward wanted to cry he was so glad. When he returned to Forks he hadn't had high hopes for a happy ending, but now he was holding his happily ever after in his arms.

He stood up, only then realizing that he hadn't gotten up after crouching down to look at her at least an hour ago. Allegra squealed in his arms and threw her head back and forth. Edward was beginning to realize that she was a very rambunctious child and that it was probably a good thing she'd be living in a house full of vampires. Because maybe they'd be able to keep up with her.

Edward took her slowly to the door, trying to draw out the time they had together. Just the two of them. After this moment he would have to share her with the rest of his family and the only reason he was willing to do that was because Allegra seemed to want it. She wanted to meet his family and anything she wanted he would get for her. Well… maybe not anything. He was a father now, there had to be limits. He was sure that Bella had limits.

And he would need help. He would need Carlisle's patience and Esme maternal instinct. He would need Jasper to settle her down at night and Alice to look into her future and make sure she was always safe and happy. He would need Emmett to play with her and Rosalie to spoil her. He would need them around for when Bella came back and the two of them wanted some alone time. They were like built in babysitters he knew he could trust.

Allegra clapped her hands as Edward opened the door and made his way into the sitting room where everyone waited for them. Alice and Jasper were snuggled onto the love seat and Hannah in one of the plush leather chairs. Rosalie, Emmett, Carlisle and Esme sat on the other couch. Everyone, except Hannah was utterly still watching Edward and Allegra closely.

She put her hand on Edward's cheek and showed him an image of Bella. Bella was holding up a picture of Edward, saying, "Your daddy has a sister named Alice, she's your god mother." The image faded and Allegra looked up at him expectantly. Rosalie was screaming at him in her head. She wanted to hold his daughter first.

But what Rosalie wanted didn't matter at all compared to what his baby wanted. If she wanted to meet Alice first, then she would meet Alice first. Edward smiled and sat down in the last remaining chair. He leaned towards Alice and offered her his daughter.

"Alice," he said. "I'd like you to meet my daughter and your god child, Allegra Renee Cullen." Allegra reached out her arms to Alice and clenched and unclenched her fists like she wanted desperately to get a hold on her aunt. His tiny pixie like sister smiled at him and pulled Allegra into her arms. As soon as Allegra was situated on Alice's lap, she started talking as fast as she could.

"My Mommy said that you were her favorite, asides my Daddy a course. She said that you was my god mommy and that that meant that if anything happened to my Daddy or my Mommy you'd take care of me with your boyfriend, Jesssper." When she said Jasper's name her face scrunched up and she shook her head back and forth. Alice laughed and Jasper smiled. "Why you laughin'?"

"Because you're funny, Allegra," Alice said.

"Mommy said I was funny all the time. She also said that you are my Daddy's sister. So if you are my Daddy's sister, what does that mean you are to me?"

"I'm your Aunt Alice, sweetie."

"Aunt Alice?" she asked.

"Yes, Allegra?" Allegra put her hand on Alice's cheek, Edward saw that she was asking Alice who Jasper was and that she was a little embarrassed to be asking. "This is Jasper and he's more than my boyfriend, lovely. He's my husband."

"Aunt Hannah has a shirt that says that husbands are boyfriends that don't go away when you're sick of them," Allegra said, a matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, I do, you crazy midget," Hannah said smiling.

"Are you sick of Jesssper, Aunt Alice?"

"Not yet," Alice laughed.

"My Mommy said that you liked to play dress up, a whole super lots. She said that if I ever got to meet you that you'd play dress up with me. Will you play dress up with me, Aunt Alice?"

"Of course I will!"

"Okay," Allegra wiggled herself out of Alice's arms and flopped back onto her lap.

"She got her balance from Bella," Hannah commented.

Emmett snickered while remembering fondly the many times Bella fell or tripped over her own feet. He liked the idea of having another uncoordinated individual in the house. Edward gave him a stern look. Allegra might be hard to hurt, but he wasn't about to push it by not catching her every time she fell and he wanted to be sure that the rest of his family felt the same way.

"I'm gonna meet Jesssper now, Aunt Alice," Allegra said, "but we're gonna play Barbies after I'm done, okay?" Alice nodded down at her, she grinned at Edward as Allegra climbed clumsily off of her lap and onto Jasper's.

Jasper took her up into his arms very gently. Edward could see that he was almost afraid to touch her and that he was very surprised at how much she seemed to trust him. Edward appreciated his caution. They both knew from Hannah that none of them were at any risk for thirsting after her blood. Apparently their species of vampire only actively desired human blood and since Allegra wasn't human there was nothing to worry about. Edward liked that Jasper would be careful with her because he knew that Emmett would always be a little too reckless.

"Jesssper?"

"It's Jasper, sweetie," Alice corrected.

"J-J-azz?"

"Jazz-per," Alice sounded out.

"Jazz-per?"

"Perfect!" Allegra smiled at Alice then turned back to Jasper.

"Jazz-per?"

"Yes, Allegra," he said.

"If you're husband to my Aunt Alice, what does that make you to me?" she asked.

"That makes me your uncle."

"You was outside with my Daddy. Do you know my Daddy? He's the best Daddy ever because he's my Daddy!" Allegra said. Jasper smiled and laughed quietly.

"I've known your Daddy for a long time. He's a very good man."

"My Mommy said that you and Aunt Alice and my Daddy are super duper special a cause you can do stuff that other people can't do. Like she said that my Daddy can read other peoples' brains," Allegra added dramatically. "What can you do? Can you read other peoples brains, too?"

"No I can't, only your Daddy can do that."

"That's cause he's the best there ever was."

"I think that's enough pumping up Edward's ego, Allegra," Alice said, smiling.

"I can manipulate emotions-"

"Man-ip-u-late," Allegra repeated. "What does, man-ip-u-late, mean?" Jasper looked over at Alice, then at Edward.

"Allegra," Edward said.

"Yes, Daddy."

"What Jasper means is that he can make sad people happy and happy people sad. He can influence what other people feel and he can tell how they feel. It's a very useful and unique gift," Edward explained.

"So, at night he could make her calm down when it's bed time?" Hannah asked.

"Yes, I could do that," Jasper said.

"You're going to need to. That little ragamuffin hates bedtime."

"Bedtime smells like butt with poopy on top!" Allegra exclaimed. Everyone laughed. Allegra pressed her hands to Jasper's cheek and begged him not make her go to bed. Jasper smiled, pulled her little hand to his lips and kissed her fingers.

"I'm sorry, Allegra, but bedtime is up to your Daddy."

Allegra gasped and lunged out of Jasper's arms towards Edward who caught her effortlessly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and his mind flooded with the image of the two of them staying up all night.

"When does she usually go to bed?" Edward asked Hannah.

"Bella tries to get her to bed by seven and usually she isn't asleep until eight or so. She's typically out for eight hours."

"Your Mommy wants you to go to bed at seven, so that's when you'll go to bed," Edward said, firmly.

Allegra's lower lip jutted out and her chin started shaking. Edward would have fallen for it if he couldn't read her mind. This was a very calculated move on her part. She wanted something so she was trying to use her wiles on him to get it. But there had to be limits and thankfully Bella had made this limit very clear.

"Do you want to meet your other aunt and uncle and your grandma and grandpa or do you want to go to bed now?" Edward asked, humorlessly.

Allegra crossed her arms and continued to pout. She wasn't the only one pouting. Rosalie was positively fuming from the couch. The fact that Edward even thought of sending his daughter to bed before she got a chance to meet her was an insult. But want Rosalie wanted didn't matter when compared to what Edward felt was best for his daughter. "So you want to go to bed then?"

"No, Daddy!" she exclaimed.

"Then what do you want?"

"Aunt and uncle and grandma and grandpa," she muttered, unhappily. He didn't like to see her upset, but he knew that as a father sometimes he'd have to make a choice for her that she didn't like.

"All right." Edward walked over to the couch and held Allegra out to Rosalie, who snatched her gently from his hands. He figured that she was already pissed at him for not letting her hold his daughter first, he didn't have to push it by having her hold his daughter last. "Allegra, this is your Aunt Rosalie and her husband Emmett," Edward said, introducing the two of them at once. He realized that had he done that with Alice and Jasper he might have saved his daughter a bit of embarrassment.

"Hello, Allegra," Rosalie cooed down at her. Emmett wrapped his arm around Rosalie's shoulders and leaned over to get a good look at Allegra.

"Hello, Wos-a-lee," she said.

"It's Rosalie, Allegra," Edward said. Rosalie glared at him. She wanted to teach Allegra how to say her name correctly. Edward nodded at her to go a head.

"Rose-a-lie," she sounded out, for his daughter.

"Rose-ah-lee," Allegra repeated.

"Very good, sweet baby." Rosalie tickled her belly lightly and Allegra squealed with laughter.

"Oh ho!" Emmett exclaimed. "Is somebody ticklish?"

"No, no, Uncle Emem!"

"It's Emmett, sweetheart," Rosalie corrected.

"She can call me Emem, babe. She's my one and only niece. She gets away with anything," he said.

"Not _anything_," Edward muttered.

"Don't be a spoil sport, Edward," Emmett said. "She's my niece, if I don't spoil her who will?"

"She'll be spoiled plenty, don't give her ideas."

While Emmett and Edward squabbled Rosalie had been whispering to his daughter. She was making all sorts of promises that Edward wasn't sure he'd let Rosalie keep. He really felt like fatherhood was something he'd have to take one day at a time. For all her vanity Edward did trust Rosalie to be good for his daughter, perhaps just via example. She honestly seemed to care about Allegra and in the end that was all Edward could really ask for from Rosalie.

After sharing a few 'secret' laughs with Rosalie Allegra wiggled her way onto Emmett's lap. She gave him a few hugs and kisses on the cheek saying, "You are big and strong and maybe you can put up my swing set?"

Emmett laughed, completely unfazed by Allegra trying to love him into doing something for her. In fact he seemed to really like it. "I am big and strong and if you give me one more kiss I'll not only put up your swing set…" he paused and visualized what he had planned. Edward realized that Emmett was doing it for his benefit. He didn't want to push his luck. Edward nodded. "I'll buy a great big slide and put that up for you too."

Allegra squealed happily and clapped her hands. "Thank you, Uncle Emem!" She gave him another few kisses and scrubbed her hands through his hair, messing it up. After she was done sugaring Emmett up, Allegra crawled off of his lap and onto Esme's. Edward noticed that his mother had been oddly quiet throughout his daughter's introduction to the family. She seemed content to merely enjoy Edward's joy and the happiness Allegra was inspiring in the whole family.

"You're my Grandma, right?" Allegra asked.

"Yes, I am."

"So, that means that you're my Daddy's Mommy."

"That's right and I happen to agree that your Daddy is the best ever."

Edward knew that she entirely believed that sentiment and longed for him to believe it too. He felt like he was doing a good job so far, but only time would tell. He was glad that Esme and Carlisle seemed love Allegra so much. They were the best parents he knew.

Allegra and Esme bonded over promises to cook together. Apparently his daughter knew how to make cinnamon rolls and was very excited to teach her grandma how to do it. Too soon for Esme liking, Allegra moved off of her lap and onto Carlisle's. She kissed both of his cheeks and placated his curiosity by showing him a few memories via her unique gift.

Edward looked on as his family 'ohh-ed' and 'ahh-ed' over his daughter and smiled. In fact that day Edward had spent more time smiling than he had in five years. Bella hadn't just given him a daughter, she had given him in joy in life again.


	6. Missing Bella

**A/N:** Heya all you faithful dudes and dudettes! Thanks for all the reviews and remember the more you review the quicker the chapters come up!

Chapter Five

Missing Bella

It was six thirty and Hannah was about the leave. She had given Edward a cell phone he could reach her by if he had any questions. She also gave him a file filled with recipes Allegra liked and all sorts of other important paper work, like her birth certificate. And she had given him an interesting piece of luggage that she assured him had all of Allegra's things in it. He couldn't see how that was true. It was only a foot and a half tall, two feet wide and three feet long. But Hannah told him that it had all of her toys, all of her cloths, her crib, rocker and chest of drawers in it. Along with all the other little necessity necessary for taking care of a child.

She proved its carrying capacity by pulling out the rocking chair, so that Emmett could take it up to Edward's room. The mouth of the luggage got bigger when it needed to, but the rest of the box stayed roughly the same size. It also seemed to understand when you spoke to it, because, it closed it's lid by itself when Allegra asked it for her toys when it opened again it revealed all of her many toys. Edward noted with pride that Bella might not like receiving presents but she sure liked giving them. Allegra pulled her teddy bear out and reached for Edward to pick her up.

She had spent the afternoon playing Barbies with Alice and letting Rosalie experiment with new styles that would keep her long hair out of her face. Esme and Carlisle went to the grocery store with a very specific list from Alice, who had already seen every meal that Allegra would be eating for the next two weeks. After putting Allegra's crib together, Emmett tried to talk Jasper into a wrestling match, but found that Jasper was too drunk on Edward's happiness to do much of anything.

Hannah left at seven and Edward tried to put Allegra to bed around that time. But she was so riled up that it took him half an hour just to get her in her pajamas. After that Edward didn't even attempt to get her in bed, he called Jasper and had him calm her down so much that she passed out in his arms. He tucked her into bed and hovered over her the whole night, watching her dreams closely for anything unpleasant.

She spent the night dreaming mostly of Edward, but she did spend due time dwelling fondly on the rest of the family. As it turned out Hannah had been wrong about how long she slept. Hannah said that Allegra would be sleeping for eight hours when in truth she slept for about twelve hours. At around six a.m. her dreams shifted, focusing almost solely on Bella. An hour later her dreams started to deteriorate and Edward realized she was about to wake. So, he pulled her into his arms and made his way down to the kitchen where Esme was making her oatmeal with raisins and maple syrup for breakfast.

Once she woke up, Edward tucked her into her height chair and helped her eat, seeing as she was still too tired to feed herself. After she woke up a little bit more she decided that she didn't want the oatmeal in her mouth as much as she wanted it in her and Edward's hair. He laughed along with the rest of the family and handed her off to Rosalie who insisted on giving her a bath.

That morning, Rosalie brushed out each and every one of her curls, braided her hair and pinned it up so it wouldn't get tangled. Allegra spent the rest of the morning sitting on Alice's lap in front of the computer selecting new outfits for her many dolls and a few dresses for herself. She then "helped" Esme and Carlisle prepare her lunch. Her grandparents had been planning on making her some buttered noodles, but ended up making a bologna sandwich after Allegra used all the butter to slip and slide all over the kitchen floor. Once she'd eaten and had her second bath, she insisted on going 'asploring' with her Daddy and her uncles. The rest of the family used that time to clean up the kitchen.

Allegra came back from 'asploring' covered in mud with a frog in her pocket. Rosalie took her upstairs for another bath, while Jasper returned the freaked out frog to the woods around the house. Edward just shook his head when his daughter stuck the hot dogs she was supposed to be eating for dinner up her nose. He'd known that parenting would be hard, but after spending all day trailing after Allegra, he had no idea how Bella managed the little trouble maker on her own. If seven vampires couldn't keep her clean for more than a few hours, how did Bella?

She spent that evening in Edward's arms learning very slowly how to play the piano. He had shared her for most of the day and wanted this to be time spent just between the two of them. Edward could see in her mind that she was concentrating and focusing more than she would have otherwise for his benefit. She wanted to make him happy as much as he wanted to make her happy.

At seven, Edward wrestled her into her pajamas and didn't even attempt to get her to sleep by himself. He just called Jasper and had his brother put her to sleep. She dreamed happily of throwing oatmeal at her Daddy and rubbing bubbles all over Rosalie's face. When her dreams started focusing on Bella, Edward picked her up, knowing that she would be waking soon. And when she did wake up it started all over again.

Instead of giving her oatmeal for breakfast, he gave her Cheerio's with slices of banana that Carlisle had prepared with her health in mind. But of course nothing went smoothly where his daughter was concerned. Every time he stuffed a spoonful of Cheerio's and banana into her mouth, she ate the cereal and spit out the banana whole. After three spoonfuls, Edward got the picture, his baby didn't like bananas. The bowel ended up on her head shortly after.

The rest of her day was spent doing some of the same things she'd done the day before. Rosalie did her hair, Alice played dolls with her, Esme and Carlisle made her lunch- most of which ended up all over her face, Emmett, Jasper and Edward took her a little way into the woods to have a look around. After her third bath and dinner Edward sat down with her at the piano. They practice until seven when he forced her into her pajamas and Jasper put her to sleep.

And when she woke up it started all over again. Most of breakfast ended up on her, rather than in her. The new clothes for her dolls had arrived, so she played with Alice instead of helping with lunch, which saved everyone from cleaning up what ever mess she decided to make that day. And instead of 'asploring' with her uncles she had them play on the swing set with her. Allegra was particularly impressed by Emmett's ability to swing in complete circle over the swing. She asked if she could sit on his lap while he did it, but Edward said 'no.' He trusted Emmett, but he didn't want her getting any ideas about being anymore reckless then she already was.

Allegra was so upset that she didn't get to swing on 'Uncle Emem's lap' that she found a puddle to jump in and ruined her pretty new dress.

By the end of the week, Edward was at his wits end. His daughter had at least three bathes a day, only ate food that he tricked into her mouth and seemed to believe that mud was 'outside chocolate.' He might have been mentally exhausted, but he was also thrilled. Allegra seemed to really be happy with him and he could have asked for anything more.

But by Monday of the next week, he noticed something different about his little bottle of sunshine. The day had started like any other. He pulled her out of bed as soon as she started dreaming of Bella and helped Esme make her a breakfast of cheesy scrambled eggs, knowing all the while that he'd probably have to clean off the ceiling by the time she was done with it. He really should have noticed something was off when she ate her morning meal in silence, keeping every morsel of food in her mouth.

Allegra even kept her eyes trained on Edward while Rosalie fixed her hair. She insisted on playing dolls with Edward, instead of Alice. She watched patiently while Esme and Carlisle fixed her lunch, not touching any of the ingredients for her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She ate quietly and as neatly as any eleven month old could. That afternoon she asked Edward to read to her instead of going outside.

She ate her dinner just as nicely and practiced playing the piano as best she could. When it came time for bed she didn't fight her father off, but helped him. Allegra then cuddled into bed and fell asleep without help from Jasper. Edward would have been suspicious sooner, had her thoughts given her away. But she had already figured out that she didn't need to touch her Daddy for him to see what was going on in her head. The only interesting thing she'd thought all day was, _I'll be good, and then I'll get what I want._ When Edward asked her what she wanted, she refused to say or even think it.

She dreamt of Bella all that night. Edward was so put off by her strange behavior that he didn't take her down stairs when she started waking up. He just remained leaning over her, looking into her eyes when she woke. In that moment he saw it. He knew exactly what she wanted…. Bella.

His baby wanted her Mommy. The one thing he couldn't give her.

She reached up, pressed her little hand to his cheek and asked him where Bella was.

"I don't where she is, Allegra," Edward whispered. The house fell quiet. Everyone was listening to this exchange.

"Can you get her for me, Daddy?" his baby asked. He could hear to desperation in her voice. She _wanted_ her Mommy. Now.

"Mommy will be back in a few months. You just have to be patient." Jasper started making his way up to Edward's room, followed closely by the rest of the family. Edward was momentarily distracted by the agony coming off of his brother, when he realized that it wasn't Jasper who was in pain, but his daughter.

She didn't _want_ her Mommy, she _needed_ her Mommy.

His family paused outside the door, waiting, frozen for Allegra's response. He saw what was going to happen in Alice's mind, but knew there was no way to stop it. Allegra opened her mouth and let out a heart broken wail. Jasper burst through the door and placed a calming hand on her belly. She stopped wailing instantly, but continued to cry. Edward brushed Jasper aside and picked up his baby.

She continued sobbing into Edward's shoulder as he took her down stairs, to prepare her meal. He stuffed her mouth full of oatmeal every time she attempted to wail. He spent the morning trying to settle her down enough for Rosalie to do her hair, but she wasn't having that. Whenever he tried to put her down she let out terrible sob, making Edward to pull her back to his chest.

Allegra spent most of the day dry bawling and silently begging for her Mommy. All she thought about was Bella. The only thing that seemed to placate her was Edward's assurance that Mommy would be back soon, but that only lasted so long. Eventually Edward took her back to his room, he rocked her slowly back and forth and hummed the lullaby Bella used to use to put her to sleep.

She stopped crying long enough to hear it and starting again as soon as he stopped. Everyone came up in turn and tried anything to make her feel better. Alice and Esme tried to tempt her with her toys, but that only reminded her of the Mommy that got her those toys. Carlisle tried reading her favorite book to her, but that only made her think about the first time her Mommy read that book to her. Rosalie tried to comb out her curls because she liked it when her aunt did that, but it only reminded her of when Mommy would comb her hair. Emmett even went so far as to make funny face at her, but she buried her head in Edward's shirt and refused to look her Uncle Emem's silly faces.

Jasper tried to convince Edward to let him force her into a better mood, but he declined. Anything that Jasper did would only be a stall forcing Allegra to deal with her unhappiness longer, because she had less time to handle it. Edward knew that Jasper knew he was right, his brother just wanted to make her feel better. Edward wanted that too, but he had to think about what would be best in the long run, not what was best in the moment.

Eventually they all trickled out of his room, leaving him alone with his weeping child. Jasper stayed close by, in case Allegra decided to start wailing again. No one wanted that.

Edward hummed what had become Allegra's lullaby over and over again, until she was calm and then started telling her stories. He told her about what he remembered of being human. He whispered happy tales of Carlisle and Esme. The sometimes ridiculous relationship between Rosalie and Emmett and all the silly, stupid things he'd seen her Uncle Emem do over the years. He told her how Alice saw Jasper in her future and found him so that they could fall in love.

And finally he told her about him and Bella. He told his daughter how he'd spied her across the cafeteria and instantly knew she was special because he couldn't read her mind. He whispered about climbing through her window in the dead of night, watching her sleep and realizing that he was in love with her. He talked about their first kiss, the first time he told her he loved her. He smoothed over the bits about wanting to kill her and almost killing her.

"I saved your Mommy's life all those years ago and then I tried to push her away, so that she'd be safe. I thought that leaving her was the only way to protect her from what I am. But I was wrong and she knew that. She was always telling me to quit it with 'I'm so dangerous' business, never believed a word of your mother. And I was always glad that she didn't. I loved her, but I'm glad I left her, Allegra, for one reason and one reason only. Do you know what that reason is?" Allegra shook her, 'no.' "You. If I'd stayed with your Mommy, I'd have never met you."


	7. Denali Cometh

Chapter Six

Denali Cometh

After a whole miserable week, Allegra finally stopped crying. She wasn't quite back to her normal trouble making self, but she let Edward put her down and leave her side without getting hysterical. She was quieter and better behaved than before and even though she was a lot easier to manage this way, Edward would've given anything to have _his_ baby girl back.

It had been two weeks since his last hunt. The first week he'd been too happy to think about it and the second week he hadn't been able to put his baby down let alone leave the house for several hours. Alice reminded him about the hunger gnawing at him and she silently offered to go with him. She thought wistfully about the last time they hunted together when Edward hadn't been sad about something. It had been awhile.

Edward sighed and looked down at Allegra. She was sitting on his lap practicing her letters. It was the first thing for her to take any interest in, in a week, so Edward encouraged her. He was wary of helping her too much. She wasn't even a year old and she wanted to know how to write. She would be one in two weeks. Esme, Alice and Rosalie were planning a small party for her and a few friends that Hannah was contacting. He wanted to give her the world, but all she'd asked for was a kitten and a trampoline. A disastrous combination to be sure.

But at that moment he wasn't worried about the very real possibility of a flying kitten in the near future. He was worried about how Allegra would react to him leaving. She would having Carlisle and Esme to comfort her, Jasper to keep her calm and Emmett and Rosalie to distract her. And he trusted them to care for her, but he didn't trust himself to be able to let her go.

He just wanted her to be happy. And being with him made her happy, or at least not weepy.

"You have to eat, Edward," Alice told him. She put her hand on his arm and showed him that Allegra would be fine while he hunted. She would be a little anxious the whole time he was gone, but she wouldn't be crying. And as soon as he got back she would reward him with a huge smile, her first smile in a week. It would be almost worth it to leave just for that smile.

"Allegra," he said, pulling her attention away from her work. "I have to go get something to eat." She blinked up at him, confused.

"If you are hungry, Daddy, we should go to the kitchen. There is all sorts of food in there."

"That's your food," Edward paused wondering how to word his explanation properly. "I'm on a very special diet. I need to go out for a few hours, so that I can eat."

"My Mommy says that when skinny people diet it's because they don't love themselves for who they are. You're not fat, Daddy," she said.

"Well," Edward struggled to explain, he knew that Allegra wasn't going to let him leave without understanding. "My diet is more concerned with nutrient, not so much with losing weight." Not that he could, but his daughter didn't need to know that yet. He knew she would figure it out eventually the same way Bella had and that he'd have to explain it, but today was not that day.

"Rosalie?" he called. Edward hoped that she could distract Allegra long enough that she wouldn't notice when he left. From the vision that Alice had shown him, she would only cry if she knew he was leaving. It wouldn't bother her so much once he was gone. Rosalie appeared by his side in an instant. "Aunt Rosalie's going to give you a bath, all right?"

"But why can't you give me a bath?" Allegra demanded.

"Because Aunt Rosalie wants to and I agree with her. You can take a bath and play with your aunt while Aunt Alice and I go get something to eat, okay?" Edward held her up to Rosalie, who plucked her out of his hands.

"But, Daddy, Daddy?" Allegra called as her aunt took her up stairs and out of sight. She continued to call for him, both verbally and mentally. He rubbed his hands over his face, hoping in vain to block out his daughter's anguished call. He needed to eat and that was that.

Alice grabbed Edward's hand, forcibly removing him from the house before he could change his mind about leaving Allegra. They ran for a few seconds before Edward pulled away from his sister and went after the first unappealing scent that he came across. Alice stayed close by, making sure that he ate enough. She knew him well enough to know that he would rush back to the house as soon as possible. She let him go back after an hour and a half of hunting.

Allegra was propped up on Jasper's shoulders, fast asleep, resting her cheek on his hair. Edward pulled her gently into his arms, careful not to wake her and went to the kitchen to fix her a snack. She woke up shortly after, pulled from a dream about him and Bella, when Edward heated up her cinnamon roll. She could smell its sweet scent even in her sleep.

"Ah!" she yelped upon seeing her daddy leaning over her. "Daddy!"

"Did you have fun with your aunt and uncles, Allegra?"

"Yup! Uncle Emem said that if it was okay with you, that he'd get me a teeter totter for my birthday! Can he, Daddy? Can he please, Daddy?!" She pushed herself up so she could look him in the eye. Her emerald eyes sparkled with excitement and Edward really didn't have the heart to point out that she already had a swing set, a slide _and_ monkey bars. She didn't need a teeter totter but this was the first time she'd gotten excited about anything in far too long.

"Of course Uncle Emem can get you a teeter totter for your birthday," Edward said loud enough for Emmett to hear. Her smile was so perfect it made Edward's heart ache. He pulled her cinnamon roll out of the microwave and sat down at the kitchen table with her while she stuffed her mouth.

"Grandma and Aunt Wos-ah-lee helped me make list of all the people I want at my birthday party and all of the things I want for my birthday and all the stuff I want to do for my birthday."

"That's right, Allegra," Esme said, sitting down next to Edward. She handed over the list for him to look over. "We stopped writing down what she wanted after a while," she said quickly so that Allegra wouldn't hear her.

Edward looked over the list of presents. New dresses for herself and her dolls, a teeter totter, three new Barbies, a kitten, a trampoline. After that the list started getting vague. 'That teddy bear I saw that one time, the funny thing that Hannah had on her mantle piece, the pretty painting Harry made' and an assortment of other things she'd probably never get.

The list of people she wanted to invite was a bit uncomfortable for Edward. Matt Razzante, Mike Razzante, Joe Razzante, Ben Razzante, Vince Razzante, John Razzante, Bobby Razzante, Jim Razzante, Mark Razzante, Nick Razzante, Brianna Razzante, Camilla Razzante, Courtney Razzante, Maria Razzante.

According to Esme all of those Razzantes belonged to two couples and were all around Allegra's age. The list went on including Oliver Bell and Melanie Kopp. But most of the party would consist of the Razzantes. Edward didn't mind that much, it was just that most of the people Allegra wanted to invite were boys and he didn't know if it was okay for his little girl to like boys that much.

She wanted a clown and pony rides and pin the tail on the donkey and twister and a great big cake made out of cinnamon rolls and a ton of other things that seemed physically impossible.

"Did you agree to all of this?" He'd let her invite all the boys in the world but piggy back rides on an actual pig just seemed like too much.

"No, of course not," Esme insisted. "But you might want to talk to Rosalie about the limits you want to put on this party. They both seem very enthusiastic."

"Do you mind watching Allegra?" Edward asked getting up. Rosalie had gone to hunt with Jasper and Emmett as soon as he got back, she wasn't too far out, he could still hear her mind. She didn't want to go that far in case Allegra needed another bath. She considered bath time to be _their_ time. She got to act out her mothering fantasies with his daughter.

"Not at all."

"Thanks."

He looked over the list as he absentmindedly ran to where Rosalie was draining a deer. It was about a ten minute run, so Allegra probably wouldn't even know he was gone. But Edward knew that if he didn't nip this in the butt soon, he'd never be able to rein her in. Rosalie wanted the world for Allegra and she wasn't too worried about limits. He wouldn't be worried either if he weren't certain that Bella would be upset if she came back to a spoiled child.

He'd finally reached Rosalie when he noticed what was going through Alice's head. In a few seconds the Denali coven would be walking through the door. A surprise visit that Alice had only missed because Edward had her focusing completely on Allegra. They would take one look at his baby girl and assume the worst.

An immortal child.

Sure she was immortal, just not in the way they thought. Making the worst assumption they could, they wouldn't wait for Carlisle to explain, they would hiss and they would growl and his tiny baby would scream and cry for her daddy who was ten minutes away.

Rosalie was talking to him, well bitching actually, but he wasn't listening. Without a word he took off. He could hear Carlisle letting them in, Allegra wobbling into the entry way curious about her Grandpa's guests. Edward pushed himself faster, he could hear the others on his tail, but paid no mind to them. In a few milliseconds the Denali would notice Allegra.

They did, they hissed, she cried.

Esme scooped her up and rushed her from the room while Carlisle told them everything. He could hear Allegra screaming, crying and begging for Edward. A few minutes later he burst through the door taking off the hinges in his haste to get to his daughter. Edward snatched her out of Esme's arms and rushed her up to his room for some quiet. He slammed the door shut, too upset to care about their guests.

All he wanted was for his daughter to go back to normal. She'd finally stopped crying about Bella and then his supposed _friends_ show up, freak out and scare her into tears.

Edward pulled a feather soft tissue out of the box sitting next to the rocking chair. Very gently he wiped the tears from her eyes and snot from her nose. Not too long ago he would have found this act repulsive, but on his baby he couldn't care less. She needed him to wipe her nose, so he wiped her nose.

Tanya and her family were coming up to apologize. He locked the door, partly because he was feeling bitter about them making his baby cry, but mostly because she hadn't stopped crying and he didn't want her to start again upon seeing them. Any one of them could easily force the door open, but he knew they wouldn't.

"Edward," Tanya called. Allegra looked up at him with red eyes, her chin quivered as she sobbed. He wasn't in the mood to forgive and forget. They'd hurt his baby's feelings and that wasn't something he could just forgive. Edward figured he could be sad that Allegra was sad, or he could be pissed at the people who made her sad. He chose the latter.

"Go away, Tanya," he muttered darkly.

"Told you he'd be pissed," Emmett said from down stairs.

"Shut up," Rosalie suggested none to kindly.

"Edward, we came up here to meet your daughter properly," Tanya said, calmly ignoring his tone.

"And I told you to go away," he snapped. Allegra chose that moment to let out a single anguished wail that stopped all the arguing all over the house. She was mentally begging for her mommy. Edward pulled her to his chest and rubbed her back soothingly as he unlocked the door. Jasper barged in, touched her cheek lightly and put her to sleep.

Irina, Kate, Tanya, Carman and Eleazar formed a tight circle around him and Allegra. Laurent hung back by the door. His thoughts upset and unsure. He noticed her strange scent and lingered on it in a way none of the others had. But Edward didn't dwell on that, he was too focused on Allegra's dreams. She was whimpering, sleeping fitfully, dreaming of hissing and growls and tears.

Hopefully she would get over this faster than missing her mommy. Her birthday was in two weeks and he really didn't want her to be miserable on her special day. Tanya was apologizing profusely for all of them. The look of longing in her eyes hardly masked by her genuine apology. She wanted to hold Allegra. Kate wanted to hold Allegra. Irina wanted to hold Allegra. Carman wanted to hold Allegra. Eleazar wanted know first hand what was going on.

Edward wasn't interested in giving any of them what they wanted. Least of all Tanya, who hoped she and Edward could bond over his daughter. That wasn't going to happen. She made his baby cry.

And he still loved Bella.

A/N: To explain all of the Razzantes. I went to school with a Matt Razzante and he had like fifty brothers, this is my not so subtle way of making fun of him. He had a cute butt though.


	8. Juicebox Wishes

A/N: This chapter is very important and cute. It introduces a lot of characters and only a few of them are all that important. It also serves to give few clues about the nature of Bella's job. You'll be getting more clues next chapter.

Disclaimer: Allegra's mine, so HA!

Chapter Seven

Juice Box Wishes and Cinnamon Roll Dreams

Allegra pulled on her skirt unhappily. She really didn't like the dress Alice had picked out for her party. It was almost too pink, with puffy short sleeves and a neon pink under skirt that puffed out the bejeweled and flower covered skirt. Alice insisted on doing her hair like her favorite doll and the end result was a mound of curls that danced around her pudgy pink cheeks when she walked.

She looked like an adorable person sized doll that was obviously very upset about something.

Edward refused when she demanded that he change her clothes into something she could play in. He thought she looked perfect and secretly hoped that dressed as she was she might behave. It was a long shot, but he could hope.

Most of the family was out back helping Alice put the finishing touches on the party decorations. Emmett had gotten her a gigantic teeter totter that she probably wouldn't be able to play on until she got bigger. Edward knew she would try to play on it, surely in a way that was not intended by the manufactures'. That inalienable fact was the reason Edward said that she was never to go outside by herself, _ever_. She'd grumbled, but agreed. He was her Daddy after all.

Esme was standing next to him, waiting for the guests to start arriving. To Esme's right was Hannah, who came early with a list of people who hadn't been invited but were showing up anyway and ten cases of hard liquor. She said that the parent would need it. Her shirt was as pink as Allegra's under skirt and proclaimed proudly, "Birthdays Are For The Young and The Senile."

Standing on Edward's other side was Tanya, who had made a big impression on Allegra but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) not the impression she was hoping for. Allegra thought she was pretty, but not as pretty as her Mommy, no one was as pretty as her Mommy. Edward was inclined to agree.

The Denali coven insisted on staying, all except Laurent who supposedly went back to Alaska. Alice saw him wandering around the wilderness for a while, with no clear destination in sight. Irina was upset by this though still excited about the prospect of a party. Most of the festivities were kept a secret from Allegra, which she didn't like. Somehow Emmett had rented (because Rosalie wouldn't let him purchase any of it) a Ferris wheel, a small roller coaster and a merry-go-round, all child sized so that Allegra could ride them. Edward really didn't like idea of her going on the Ferris wheel or the roller coaster and was only mildly consoled by Hannah's reminder that she couldn't actually get hurt.

Alice bounced into the entry way and announced, "Two people are coming!" The rest of the family followed behind her, ready to make a good impression on Bella's friends.

"What do they look like?" Hannah asked, a bit anxious. But as usual her thoughts gave away no reason for her anxiety.

"They're both young looking, female, dressed rather oddly-"

"Nnena and Lyra." Hannah sighed and shook her head. "I'd been hoping they wouldn't come, but Lyra said they were and I should really know better then to question a Prophet."

"A Prophet?" Carlisle asked.

"Yeah. You see Alice is a Seer," Hannah explained. "She _sees_ _possible_ futures. Lyra is a Prophet. She _knows_ the future. There is no questioning what she sees. Hell she knows when all us are going to die. She can tell each piece of grass exactly when and how often it's going to be stepped on in its life time. I'd stay out of her head, Edward, cause like most Prophets she's one step away from Crazyville."

Everyone absorbed that for a moment as they listened to the pair of light footsteps making their way up to the front door. "What about Nnena?" Alice asked. She was curious about Lyra and had every intention of cornering the poor girl the first chance she got.

"Nnena's a vampire slayer." This declaration was also met with silence.

"But Nnena only kills the bad vampires," Allegra said, pulling on her dress again. She was hoping that if she ripped it, Daddy would let her change. Realizing this, Edward reached down, pulled her hands from her skirt and picked her up. She could do plenty of damage while in his arms, but having her close severely lessened her chances of following through on whatever plans she'd made. She sighed and went on, "Nnena doesn't hurt good vampires, like Ms. Portia or her sisters. They help her 'take care' of the bad vampires. That's what Mommy said."

They didn't have a chance to continue the discussion, because at that moment a soft knock came at the door. No one moved for a moment, Esme opened the door and a young girl Edward assumed was Lyra started talking immediately.

"Right on time!" she exclaimed. "You opened the door right when you were supposed to. I love it when people are prompt. Harry's always five minutes late or early. It messes up my whole day. He's got more free will then most. Has to do with the age and purity of his blood line. You know the farther a Dien family goes back the more powerful their magic is. That's why he can screw around with the future. But not by much just a few minutes. He'll be a few minutes late by the way. Do you have any paper? Your family's future is so rich I need to get everything's that's going to happen to you out of my head."

Her companion, Nnena, pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket with a pen. Lyra snatched them up greedily and started writing fiercely up against the door jam. Nnena grabbed the present out of Lyra's hand and gently presented both gifts to Allegra.

"Happy birthday, squirt," she said. Allegra squealed and clapped her hands.

"Can I open them now, Daddy?"

"No, Allegra. You can open them during the party," Edward said.

"I don't like my birthday!" she pouted. "I have to wear itchy stupid dress. I can't open my presents when I want. I can't eat the pan of cinnamon rolls in the oven. I can't do anything I want!" Allegra crossed her arms and continued to pout.

"You'll like you're fiftieth birthday party!" Lyra said. "Your husband will get the most beautiful necklace and-"

"Hey, Lyra!" Hannah said, interrupting before Edward erupted. He pitied the fool who married his daughter. "I think I saw a frog out back why don't we go out there and you can tell it about it's imminent demise."

"Okay!" she skipped from the room after with the piece of paper still in her hand. "You'll have fun, Allegra. I promise." Nnena followed her out back, trusting her friend to lead her through the house.

"Well, that was interesting," Tanya said.

"They can still hear you," Hannah commented.

"I think the Razzantes are coming next," Alice said. After Lyra's impeccable visions of the future, she was beginning to question her own ability. After all her visions could change, Lyra's were set in stone. Lyra saw the truth, Alice saw possibilities.

"Four stressed out adults and fourteen insane children?" Hannah asked.

"Yup."

"That's the Razzantes for sure." She ran to the door and pulled it open for the parade of Razzantes. "Hey Danielle," Hannah said to the woman who was aptly herding in five boisterous boys. "Gianna," she said to the other woman, herding five more boys into the house. The boys were yelling, demanding attention and trying to get away from their mothers, to no avail.

Emmett came to rescue, gently snatching up a few boys. He made the noise of an airplane flying them through the house toward the back yard, while they screamed in delight. Rosalie, who had already caught the attention of the three oldest Razzante boys easily ushered them through the house, with their mothers close behind. They had muttered exhausted hellos and happy birthdays as they passed. Allegra was still pouting and refused to acknowledge her guests.

Edward sighed and closed his eyes. When would she get over _this_?

"Give her three minutes!" Lyra exclaimed from the back. The thrilled yells and laughs from the Razzante boys drowned out the rest of Lyra's words. He opened his eyes to two nearly identical men carrying a girl in each arm. Hannah introduced them as Matt and Jim Razzante Sr. and the four girls as their only daughters. Seven kids each, five boys and two girls. He, a vampire for crying out loud, couldn't keep up with his single one year old daughter. They muttered equally exhausted hellos and happy birthdays as they followed their wives out.

Emmett and Rosalie stayed out back with the guests, while Esme made drinks for the adults. So far so good. Except for his daughter's bad mood. He rubbed her back soothingly and hummed her lullaby. She realized immediately that he was trying to make her feel better. She pushed against his chest and looked him in the eye.

"Daddy, I just don't understand why I have to do things I don't want to do on _my_ birthday. And Mommy isn't even here, I want Mommy here!" she said.

"I want Mommy here too, Allegra," Edward explained. "But Mommy's job is very important, if it wasn't she'd never miss your birthday." Allegra sighed and wiggled until she was facing the door.

"Aunt Alice, when's Oliver going to get here?" She thought fondly of playing with Oliver, her next door neighbor. She apparently had 'called him' which meant that no one else was aloud to play house with him. In fact she'd once kicked another girl for trying to play house with him. Edward had a feeling that he'd have to watch their relationship very closely.

"He's coming next with Melanie and your God father," Alice said, absentmindedly. Jasper put a protective arm around Alice, she was feeling off and he didn't like it.

"Mr. Harry's coming! Yipee!" she exclaimed. "Dis birthday just got tons better!"

"This, Allegra," Carlisle corrected. "With T H sound, th."

"Th-is," Allegra repeated. Her speech suffered when she when was excited. "Is he gonna give me that picture that's so pretty and that I want soooo much?"

"Now, sweetie. We don't want to ruin the surprise." The Razzante men came back out to get the fourteen gifts, one from each child. Carlisle and Jasper (who reluctantly pulled himself away from Alice) helped them lug the packages in and deposited them in the living room with the other two from Nnena and Lyra.

Oliver and his parents (Kate and Oliver Sr.) showed up next. The lovey dovey feelings coming off of the couple made Edward want to gag but Allegra was so thrilled to see them that he suffered through it. She wiggled out of his arms and raced over to the two year old Oliver who squeezed her as tight as he could.

Allegra introduced him to everyone in sight. "This is my Grandpa and Grandma and my Daddy and my Uncle Jazz-per and my Aunt Alice and Miss Tanya and Miss Kate and Miss Irina and Miss Carman and Mr. El-e-a-zzarr. And out back is my Uncle Emem and Aunt Wros-ah-lee. We should go now to meet them-" She tried to sneak past Edward but he scooped her up before she could.

"Let one of your aunts or uncles show them out back, Allegra," he said. "You still have some guests yet to arrive."

Allegra began to pout again when Melanie and her father came in. Alice collected their gifts while Kate showed them to the party. Carman, Elaezar and Irina followed them, prepared to help playing host to all of the children. Hannah sighed, crossing off names on the list of uninvited and invited guests.

"My sisters should be coming any minute now and then Harry and that'll be it," she muttered. As she spoke the door opened and Hannah walked in. Or at least it looked like Hannah. "This is my twin Emmy, she has no manners," Hannah informed Edward and Tanya.

"This is my sister Hannah, she has no style," Emmy said. Emmy was wearing a bright pink, net skirt with a sky blue tub top and had her long red hair tied into a messy pony tail on top of her head.

"She calls it style, I call it dementia. Party's out back."

Hannah's three older sisters filed in after her. Cassie the oldest by a few thousand years, was just a short and lean as her sister. Annamaria the second oldest was a bit taller but not by much with the most interesting lavender eyes, Edward had ever seen. Margaret, the youngest of the three was the only one of the sister to cut her hair short. All of their gifts were small and Edward suspected that they were all jewelry of some sort that he'd have to make sure Allegra didn't try to eat.

Hannah showed them graciously to the party and left Edward, Tanya and Allegra to meet the last guest. His daughter's Godfather was the last to appear. He looked remarkably like James and Edward would have assumed that he was James were it not for the huge grin on his face when he spied Allegra. He came with five bulky men carrying a massive flat package that barely fit through the door. He must have known about Edward's mind reading abilities because he kept his thoughts far away from his gift.

"Hello, pumpkin," he said to Allegra.

"Mr. Harry!" his baby exclaimed dancing in his arms. She flopped out of his arms and into Harry's. "What did you get me, Mr. Harry?"

"Oh, oh! Now, let's not ruin the surprise," he told her, following Edward and Tanya out back. Allegra screamed in joy when she saw everything they got for her.

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! This is the best birthday ever! I want to go on that big wheel and the rolly thing and the go around. I want to do all of it at the same time, Daddy!"

Allegra ran off into the party. Naturally, his little trouble maker was the center of attention. All the boys wanted to play with her, but she only had attention enough for Oliver. Yes, he'd have to watch this relationship very closely. He hovered over her the whole party barely paying attention to the guests, until Esme grabbed his arm and dragged him over the picnic table where all the other parents sitting.

"You need to relax, son," she whisper. She loved seeing him happy, but having him stress over every little thing his daughter did was tiring, even for those how never slept.

"Don't be too hard on him, Esme," said Matt Razzante Sr. "I hovered over my oldest until Danielle got pregnant again. Being almost constantly scared out of your mind for your children is part of being a new parent. He'll get over it eventually," he assured.

Lyra danced over to them, leaned over Matt's shoulder and said, "Give him three months, as soon as Bella gets back!" She flounced away to tell the Ferris wheel when it would break.

Edward shuddered. Her mind gave him a head ache. It moved a mile a second, jumping erratically from the future of the trees to the future of one of the children to the future of a bird flying overhead. In spite of all of this her thoughts were surprisingly clear. Her hearing was impeccable, because she knew just about everything any allusion to possible futures was an excuse to get the truth out of her head.

"She's a trip, let me tell you," Hannah said. Even though she looked exactly like Emmy they weren't similar in any way. Hannah was entertaining the parents while Emmy was riding the roller coaster. "Bella's crazy about her though. Her and Nnena. Two of the most annoyingly dangerous people I've ever met and Bella can't get enough of them."

"How are they dangerous?" Esme asked, slightly worried. "They seem so nice."

"Lyra knows everything and isn't coy about telling anyone what they want to know. She could be very dangerous in the wrong hands. And Nnena is a very young vampire slayer. She can tell the difference between a vampire that needs to die and one that doesn't, but she doesn't have much control over her strength."

"How strong is she?" Emmett asked. Any talk of strength and Emmett was enticed away from just about anything.

"Nnena is stronger than the strongest vampires in existence, all vampire slayers are. If they weren't they would die. Hell, she told me once that she accidentally ripped someone in half. Have you ever heard something so ridiculous! But I believed her, she didn't look proud of it, just really embarrassed and slightly guilty."

"Do you think she could beat me at arm wrestling?" Emmett asked, excitedly looking over at Nnena. She was gently pushing Melanie on the swing. In fact, Edward noted, she did everything gently. Like she was afraid of breaking something.

"I think she could take your arm off. So don't be an idiot and challenge her or something equally fatal," Hannah snapped. She slipped for a moment and thought of Bella. Edward could see the memory clear as day.

_Bella packing all of Allegra's things into the luggage. She looked up at Hannah and said, "Don't let any of them get hurt because of their association with me."_

The thought vanished almost as quickly as it appeared and was replaced with a memory of the night before. The image of naked flesh and echoes of moans made Edward pull away both mentally and physically. Hannah was more energetic then he ever wanted to know. She gave him a look that said, "that's what you get." Her thoughts stayed in the gutter but that didn't stop Edward from checking in every once and a while.

She knew something about Bella that she wasn't saying. Something that had to do with whatever job she was doing for James. It was dangerous, obviously and not just dangerous for her but for them as well. He got the sense from Hannah's memory that Bella had charged her friend to keep them safe and that she had the means and the connections to do just that. Edward also realized that Hannah wasn't going to elaborate and there was nothing he could do about it.

Alice brought the cake out mid-afternoon. It wasn't really a cake but tiered, layered cinnamon rolls, because cinnamon rolls were the only sweets Allegra liked. At the top was a single roll with a pink candle sticking out of it. Everyone gather, sang her happy birthday and waited for her to blow out the candle. Allegra climbed onto Edward's lap and closed her eyes. _I wish my Mommy was here._

Edward kissed her hair, wishing with her while she blew out the candle.


	9. The Most Telling

Chapter Eight

The Most Telling

Allegra sat amongst her many gifts while Edward sifted through her loot. The sun had set a few hours ago and everyone else had gone out for a hunt. It was just him and Allegra, something he was glad for. It gave him a chance to spend part of her birthday as just the two of them. He was very selfish when it came to their alone time.

She'd gotten an array of gifts from the Razzante boys, most of which she didn't care for. The gruesome looking action figures and lame board games. Surprisingly she did like the toy cars (that were currently stuck to her Barbie's' feet) and hated the tiny baby doll she'd gotten from one of the Razzante girls. Oliver had gotten her the teddy bear she wanted (she'd it named Emem after her Uncle Emem). Melanie got her Barbie clothes, all of which she loved.

Hannah's older sisters got her diamond encrusted jewelry that she thought for a second was candy and Edward had to put it away until she was old enough to appreciate it. Nnena got her a hard baseball helmet to go with Lyra's gift of a small baseball bat and the undeniable knowledge that she would be learning to play baseball from her uncles in a few weeks.

Rosalie got her a massive trampoline and Carlisle got her a black mesh safety net to go around the trampoline. Emmett's teeter totter went over well until Allegra tried to climb up the side of it, too small to do anything else on it. Jasper got her a little plastic potato gun, with a bag of potatoes and was immediately showered in tiny piece of hard, white starch. Esme redecorated the third floor guest room into a space just for Allegra, with a huge closet that Alice filled to brim with clothes. Alice also got her a soft, stuffed rocking horse, with a small cowboy hat and plastic belt she could fit her potato gun in when she played "shoot-em-ups" with Uncle Jasper.

And last but not least there was one freaked out kitten hiding under her crib that Edward had gotten for her. The pure white kitten had been named "Chocolate" for no reason that Edward could discern, even though he could read Allegra's mind.

She was very gracious about all her gifts, even the ones she didn't care for and Edward couldn't have been more proud of her.

There were only two stressors that day: the letter Hannah gave him from Bella and the present Allegra got from Harry.

It was a massive painting, as beautiful as it was haunting. The image captured was that of Bella. She lay on plush dark, purple chaise lounge, backwards with her feet propped up on the head rest and her head tipped over the edge near the end of the lounge. She wore a thin, short, blue dress that adorned her form in a way that made Edward horribly jealous. It caressed her curves, hugged her spin where her back arched seductively, tightened over her breasts, revealing nothing yet hinting at everything. The dress was sinful. Her pose meant to seduce even the most devote priest. The look in her smoldering eyes held him captive. Her lips puckered ever so slightly. She looked like she wanted to jump out of the painting and ravish the viewer of her intimate pose.

Her left hand was in her hair that fell down to the floor in waves of mahogany silk. In her right hand was the cause of most of his stress. A dagger with a single drop of blood at the very tip.

When Harry helped Allegra open this present he thought unabashedly of when he had painted it. He'd picked out the dress specifically for the intimate way it fit her body. He'd positioned her so that her body was shown to its greatest advantage. He hadn't placed her so to seduce, but show off the strength and grace in her form. He thought that the pose showcased her lithe muscles and athletic shape. It did, but Edward thought that it ensnared and tempted much better than it showcased anything.

Harry'd handed her the knife, smiling when she frowned. He knew that it reminded her of something she'd rather not think about. With a scowl she had sliced into Harry's arm with the dagger. The blood gleaming on the point in the painting was Harry's blood. He thought of the blood as symbolic. He thought the way she'd taken the blood was symbolic. But unfortunately for Edward, Harry had the presence of mind not to think about how he thought they were symbolic. Edward could only hazard a guess.

Harry's painting was meticulously detailed. From afar Bella looked flawless, perfect. But upon closer inspection one could see the tiny details that made the painting so eerily realistic. Bella's finger nails were chipped, her hair tangled in some places, her lips slightly chapped, the rims of her eyes red as if she'd been crying. Bella's feet were dirty. The dress was wrinkled, stained in a few places, and torn at the bodice. The lounge was ragged in some places, the stitching coming up in others, the wooden legs were scuffed and chipped.

These tiny details that most people missed when looking at it could have easily taken away from the piece's beauty, but Edward felt that they made it _real_. Looking at Bella's dirty feet and broken nails let him know that this had actually happened. They were proof that Bella had walked across a dirty floor, maybe tipped, caught herself and broke a nail in the process. This picture was of the real Bella, the one he knew, the one _he_ remembered. Not some glamorized version of her.

Carlisle wanted to talk about the painting and the letter. He'd asked Edward to examine the painting in great detail, looking for any facet they might have missed. This painting was important, they could all feel it. Harry had given the painting intentionally. He wanted them to know something, but felt loyal to someone else and that kept him from saying it out right.

He had also been charged to look through Bella's letter for any clues. It was unlikely that he'd find any though. The letter was sparse. Seeming to have been written without much feeling or thought behind it.

_Edward,_

_I know that it's been at least five years since Charlie's seen you, but for Allegra's birthday I'd really like if he could meet her. He would like it too and I do want my Dad to have a relationship with my daughter. I know you're thinking that there is no way you'll be able to take her over there. But Charlie knows that there is something off about me and I've alluded to something being off about you as well. If/when you take Allegra over to meet him and he sees that you haven't aged, he'll do one of two things. He'll either assume that you're like me and won't say anything or ask if you're like me and I give you permission to lie to him._

_Bella_

_P.S. Remember I left Charlie's house looking eighteen and came back seven months later looking twenty five. After that there isn't much that will surprise my Dad. Don't worry about Renee, I'll let her know about Allegra when my baby gets older. Tell Allegra how much I love her and give her a big kiss for her birthday from me._

Edward had given Allegra a hundred kisses on her birthday and told her that most of them were from her Mommy.

The letter didn't give away anything that they didn't already know, but it did put them in an awkward position. Rosalie thought it was a stupid idea to even consider taking Allegra to go see Charlie. She didn't think that Bella had any right to try and dictate what they did with Allegra. She didn't say so verbally, but she thought of herself as Allegra's mother to a certain extent.

Edward pulled her aside before she went hunting and told her off for thinking so.

"Bella's going to come back for her baby, Rosalie," he had said. "If she wants to, she'll take that baby back to where ever it is she's been hiding for the past five years," the thought made his heart ache but he had continued, "and there is next to nothing we can do to stop her. Bella is Allegra's mother, not you. It's inappropriate and wrong for you to even think of taking her place in Allegra's life."

"I am aloud to think whatever I want, Edward," she'd snapped. "And don't you dare tell anyone what I've been thinking."

"I've never told anyone the vapid, inane, vain thoughts that run through your head, Rosalie and I won't start now. But I also won't have you entertaining thoughts of being my baby's mother. You're not, end of story." She left after that without a word.

Edward knew it was harsh and probably wouldn't do much more than make her extra bitchy for a few days, but he had to do something. Allegra didn't want a new mommy she wanted her Mommy. She wanted Bella. And Rosalie, for all her longing could never take Bella's place.

Jasper was inclined to agree with Rosalie about taking Allegra to see Charlie. One of them had to do it and the fact that they hadn't aged wouldn't be lost on Charlie. The idea that he'd just assume they were like Bella only mildly cooled Jasper's worries. He was concerned about what would happen if the Volturi found out about their little visit. He was worried what would happen if the Volturi found out about Allegra period. They considered themselves the rulers of all paranormal beings and Allegra certainly wasn't _normal_.

It was something that Edward worried about too, but there were so many other things to worry about it remained in the back of his mind. Especially since Laurent had mysteriously disappeared from Alice's vision mid-way through the party. He was the only person Edward didn't entirely trust with their little secret and he was gone. Alice got the feeling he had died somehow. A feeling that Lyra affirmed to be true.

Irina was taking it hard, so the Denali coven was heading back to Alaska right after their hunt. She'd demanded to know what happened to him but Alice couldn't tell and Lyra wouldn't say. Edward found that curious and asked her about it later on.

"There are something's that are meant to happen, that have to happen. There are something's that can be avoided, that should be avoided. There are often times things that you never need to know, that you shouldn't ever know. Finding out how Laurent died would cause Irina undue heart ache because there is no way she could retaliate without getting herself killed. And besides she only thought he was her true mate, he wasn't," Lyra said. She assured him and Tanya and Kate that she'd get over it soon enough and that was a comfort in itself.

Allegra pulled on Edward's pant leg. She wanted up. He scooped her into his arms and she pushed her fingers into his cheek. She was tired and felt put out that she was admitting it. It was rare for her come out and say that she wanted to go to bed, so Edward didn't push his luck. He took her upstairs, into her new bedroom and prepared her for bed. He played her lullaby on the stereo on her room and stayed close by until she fell asleep, visions of Ferris wheels, roller coaster, merry-go-rounds, Oliver and presents floating through her head.

---

Carlisle was looking hard at the painting. It was propped up against the wall of windows in the living, until they found a permanent place to hang it. There had to be something they were all missing, though with their impeccable eyesight it was unlikely. Edward had told them about what he'd seen going through Harry's head during the party and what Hannah had let slip. It had most of them worried about Bella and Allegra.

Rosalie was still just mad.

Edward had of course noticed the inscription on the dagger, but thought nothing of it. He knew from Harry's memory that the artist hadn't thought much of the dagger he'd given Bella. It was more important to him that she hold a knife in the picture then what was said on the blade. It was a gift Harry had gotten from his father, James, for his eighteenth birthday. It was one of the few gifts he'd ever gotten from his father that he actually liked. It was an ancient piece, famous for killing more enemies to his family then any other weapon. It was a weapon he'd used in battle.

The dagger was important to him, but not the picture.

"Would there be anyway for us to find out what the inscription says?" Jasper asked. There was no use asking _what_ it said, the language was that of the Dien and none of them knew how to speak it, yet. Carlisle was learning from some of the books they'd found in the luggage, but it was slow work even for a vampire. It was unlikely that he'd be able to translate it.

"Why bother?" Edward asked. "I saw in his memories that adding the dagger was a last minute thing. He didn't even think about what it said."

"We can't over look anything, Edward," Carlisle said. "If Hannah's thoughts tell us anything it's-"

"That she's a lot more perverted then any of us would have imagined?" Edward suggested. Carlisle ignored him.

"It's that Bella's doing something dangerous, something that might put us in danger, something that might put Allegra in danger." That last bit shut Edward's mouth. There was nothing he took as seriously as his baby's safety. "You said that it seemed like Harry was trying to tell us something with this painting. We have pay attention to every little detail in this painting. It's the only clue we have."

"What about Bella's letter?" Esme suggested. "There's bound to be something in there."

"I've read this thing a hundred times," Emmett said. He was sitting on the floor leaning on Rosalie's legs. Jasper was looking over the painting with Carlisle and Alice was scrunched up in a ball sifting through the future, looking for Bella. It seemed that her Bella shaped blind spot had returned. Esme was pacing slowly, Edward was sitting on the armrest of loveseat. "There's nothing in here. Just instructions about how to deal with Charlie."

"I don't think it's a good idea," Rosalie said. "Taking her to see Charlie just exposes her unnecessarily."

"He's her grandfather, babe," Emmett murmured.

"Be that as it may," Rosalie said, dismissively, "we can't protect her from exposure at Charlie's house-"

"Exposure to what?" Edward demanded.

"Oh I don't know? The Volturi?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Rosalie," Edward snapped. "How would they find out about her? Do you honestly think that they'd come across her accidentally while she visits her grandfather?"

"Since when are you so uncaring about your daughter's safety?" Rosalie asked.

"She's got a point, Edward," Emmett said. "If the Volturi ever did find out about her, they'd just assume she's an immortal child. They'd kill us all."

"Again how are they going to find out?" Emmett opened his mouth to respond, but Edward spoke over him, "The only person I don't trust who knows about her is Laurent and he's dead. Charlie's never heard of the Volturi and he wouldn't be able to contact them anyway. I'd be with her the whole time, if anything dangerous happened I'd get her out of there."

"Charlie does deserve to meet his Granddaughter," Esme said.

"I can't see anything bad happening if she goes," Alice added, giving up on her search.

"It's an unnecessary risk!" Rosalie screeched. Carlisle sighed and looked away from the painting. The family turned to him for a decision.

"I agree," he said. Rosalie grinned in triumph, "with Edward," he added. Rosalie growled and zipped up stairs. "Can you get the luggage for me while you're up there?" She flew back down a moment later, dropped the box and went back up.

Edward shook his head. "Very mature, Rosalie." He heard her snarl from her room.

"Please don't make this harder for me then it's already going to be," Emmett begged.

"You shouldn't egg her on, Edward," Esme chided lightly.

Carlisle went over to the luggage. "I need to know what's written on that dagger," he said to it. It had answered vaguer demands from Allegra, so Edward was sure it would be able to come up with something for Carlisle. The luggage paused for a moment and then shuffled over to the painting. They all know better then to try and help it along, the last time any of them tried the bite marks on Emmett's leg hadn't faded for hours. It seemed to study the dagger without eyes, paused for a moment and then opened with a snap.

Sitting on a red velvet cushion was a large glossy book. A Modern Text on Pagan History. The book flipped open to the chapter about Harry's family. Carlisle pulled the book out, thanked the luggage and began to read silently. After reading a few pages, he stopped and read aloud:

"_King Harold the second used the dagger (pictured above) to end the First War (see chapter five for more details). The blade has been passed down through the generation to Prince Harold the third who used it in the Second War. The inscription the north side (indicated by the cross on the hilt) of the blade reads, "I have kissed a thousand bellies and shall kiss a thousand more." The inscription on the south side (indicated by the royal crest on the hilt) of the blade reads, "This sword is in the hands Death put to use by the King." These inscriptions are widely believed by royal scholars to be symbolic. They are thought to symbolize victory and loyalty achieved through death. Anyone who possesses or is lucky enough to hold this ancient weapon is thought to symbolize those things as well."_

Carlisle went back to the painting. Edward didn't look up, he knew which side was showing.

"This sword is in the hands of Death put to use by the King," Carlisle read.

Maybe Harry had put some thought into the dagger after all.


	10. The Things We Can't See

A/N: I love the title for this chapter. It's actually the reason I put a table of contents at the beginning of the story. Hehehehe! And just to add in understand this chapter takes place one month after the previous chapter. In other words Allegra has been with the Cullens for two months now. Thanks so much for all the reviews and thanks to the people who aren't reviewing but are reading (note the sarcasm).

Chapter Nine

The Things We Can't See

Isabella Swan strode unhappily up to the palace. She used to think of this place as a home, now it was prison. Locking her up with the choices of her past. Choices she regretted making. It didn't matter though, after this it was over. No more "taking care" of things for the emperor. She was done and she was going to make sure he knew that.

It hadn't taken her six months to clean up James' mess. Only two. And it had only taken that long because of the children involved. She hated taking parents away from their babies, but when it came to this job, she thoroughly believed that those children would be better off without their parents around. Criminals didn't make the best role models.

The large entry way to the palace was stuffed with people. Commoners looking for help, diplomats looking for money or power and the bored princes and princesses that hung around for something to do. Bella waved at them as she pushed her way through the crowd.

People snapped at her, then recognized her and apologized. That was the way of it. Everyone knew how much James liked her and everyone knew how few people James actually liked. If it came down to it, Bella could have anyone killed and get away with it. Getting on her bad side was a fatal mistake.

Or at least it used to be, but no one needed to know that.

Being feared meant that she never had to wait in a line at a store. She never had pay her tab at a pub, she never to deal with bitchy mean people ever again. All of those people are cowards anyway, when faced with some more influential, more powerful then themselves they clammed up and learned some respect. Everyone respected Isabella Swan. And if they didn't respect her they respected her position with the emperor.

"Hey Bella," Harry called from the library. She stepped in for a moment. The boy had grown into a very impressive (happier) version of his father. She remembered teaching him his first words with Hannah and the horrified look on his mother's face when she heard her fourteen month old baby scream, "Fuck you!"

It had been Hannah's idea and while Bella knew better she couldn't stop laughing long enough to make her friend behave.

"How was the party?" she asked, sitting down at one of the large wooden tables situated in the royal library.

"It was loads of good fun," Harry said, coming down one of the ladders on the north wall. He sat down across from her with a stoat leather tome in his hands. "They got a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster and a merry-go-round. They even tiered a bunch of cinnamon rolls to look like a cake for her." Bella smiled. "It was delicious." They laughed for a moment, then fell into a companionable silence.

"What'd you get her?" Harry's smile faded and Bella froze. She knew that look. He felt guilty about something and Harry felt guilty about very few things. "Harry?"

"You have to understand, Bella. They love that baby and if you plan on living with them in the near future they deserve to know exactly what they're getting themselves into."

"What did you give her?" She couldn't think of any_thing_ he could give Allegra that would reveal her secret.

"I gave her the portrait I painted of you three years ago." She gave him a confused look. He'd painted four pictures of her three years ago. "The one with the dagger."

Bella sighed in relief. He hadn't given away half as much as he thought he had. The connection was vague, even if they did found out what was written on that dagger it was unlikely that they'd be able to figure out how exactly she fit in to the equation. The blade was a weapon of war and even though she had fought in the war, she'd never touched the dagger before posing for that painting.

"What exactly did you hope to accomplish by doing that?" she asked. She had to know if there was something she was missing.

"It's all symbolic, Bella," he said, shaking his head. "Do you know why I had you hold that dagger while I painted in you in such a sensual position?"

"I thought it was-"

"I know you did and I let you think that because it served my purpose but you're wrong. In that picture you aren't you, you are my father, the Emperor. You're playing the part of a leader that everyone loves. And what everyone loves is a sexual, confident woman. That's why I positioned you that way. Isabella Swan _is_ the dagger. The weapon of the leader. The blood, my blood, is a sacrifice. The leader uses the weapon to sacrifice himself for the people." Bella stared at him, silently.

"The imperfections all over the place in the painting are symbolic of the truth in that statement. Sacrifice is messy, it's torn, it's chipped, it's coming up at the seams." Harry sighed and leaned back in his chair. "You've spent the last sixty some odd years sacrificing yourself for my father. It's about time he sacrificed something for you."

The voices outside the library got louder, pulling Bella's attention away from Harry. He'd always had a very interesting way to looking at the world. People could be other people in the artist's mind. It was a gift Bella admired and resented in Harry. It meant that he could see things she couldn't and any one in her line of work hated being blind to anything.

James made his way into the library, he was being swarmed by power hunger diplomats that were giving his body guards a hard time. The swearing and jostling stopped with one stern look from James. People might fear Bella, but if they had a choice between her and James, they'd always pick her.

James was the emperor. The people loved him because he made their lives better. The people feared him because he wouldn't hesitate to kill them if they crossed him. It was a fine balance that worked out favorably for most people.

"Isabella," he said. "I'd very much like to speak to you alone." He was standing ram rod straight, his eyes expressionless, the set of his mouth was unfriendly. He was mad and that made things unpleasant for who ever he was focusing on. Unfortunately he was focusing on Bella.

"I'll see you later, Harry," she sighed.

"Hopefully," he muttered low enough that only she heard him. Bella sighed again and followed James to his office. The body guards eyed her suspiciously, before conceding to James' wishes and remaining outside the office. There were few people on the planet who could get passed the guards and cause the royal family any real harm. Bella was one of those people.

James settled behind his desk, Bella shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. She was very rarely unnerved around James, only when she'd done something wrong and knew that he knew she'd done something wrong.

"I asked you to take care of my little problem," he said, not bothering to settle her down. James knew when to be kind and when not to. Generally speaking he was kind when he was happy. This didn't bode well for Bella. "I asked you to do your best work this one last time for me. I asked you to be quick, subtle, efficient. Three things I've asked you to be many times in the past. Three things you've _been_ many times in the past." He paused seemingly for dramatic effect. Bella would have laughed had the situation been different.

"And yet, this time, you managed to make such a large mess that it actually attracted media attention before your clean up crew could destroy the evidence. Honestly, Bella, what were you thinking? Leaving-"

"Hey," she said, cutting him off. No one interrupted the Emperor, but he let it slide. "I'd like to see you 'take care' of an army of sixty some odd highly trained warriors without making a mess. And you didn't ask me to be 'quick, subtle and efficient.' You asked me to be 'quick, efficient and subtle.' The difference may be lost on you but it isn't on me. I had to be fast and proficient and if I had the time as subtle as possible.

"I handled the biggest hurdle first, then moved on to the stationary operatives. Taking down the army was the hardest, most dangerous part. If I hadn't done it first, the others might have called them in for back up. It was the most _efficient_ way to do it." She paused, purposefully for dramatic effect. "Don't you think?"

"I've never questioned how well you do your job. There is simply no one better. Even the person you replaced wasn't as good as you are." He sighed, losing some of the tension in his body. "You've finished early, which is more than I could have ever asked for. Since that is true, I'd like you to show your face around a bit. Let the people know that it was you who took down that army. Put a good spin on the situation." Bella opened her mouth to protest. She missed her baby, for crap's sake! "Only a month, then you can go." Bella sighed, this time in defeat.

---

Carlisle might have agreed with Edward about letting Allegra meet her grandfather, but he also agreed with Rosalie that it would be a risk. They needed to be prepared for anything. If the neighbors saw eternally youthful Edward coming and going, there would be talk, speculation, investigation, all sorts of things they didn't need.

The plans to see Charlie didn't come to fruition for a month due to Rosalie's many objections that Carlisle considered one by one and then dismissed.

So, Emmett and Jasper (in between teaching Allegra to play baseball) scooted out the house. Their specific instructions were to figure out the best possible time to introduce Charlie to his Granddaughter. A time when Charlie was in the house alone, with the neighbor preferably not around and Sue's kids no where to be seen. They were to map out the best entrance and all possible escape routes should anything go wrong.

They came back from their first scooting trip without any of that.

"What happened?" Carlisle demanded, when Emmett and Jasper returned empty handed mere minutes after heading out.

Allegra was upstairs playing dolls with Alice and trying to force Chocolate out from her closet at the time, with Edward hovering over them like always. When he heard in their minds what they had found out he nearly had a heart attack (only nearly though, his heart wasn't beating so an actual heart attack is out of the question).

"Werewolves!" he shouted. Allegra let out a little yelp of surprise at his exclamation and looked up at him liked he'd lost his mind. She reached over to Alice, who was equal stunned and showed her the last few seconds with a silence question behind the image. She wanted to know what Daddy was yelling about, but Alice was frozen. So was Edward, though he was frozen in rage. How had Alice missed THIS!?

"Werewolves?" Esme asked. "I thought they'd died out a generation or so ago."

"So did I," Emmett said. "But apparently we were wrong. The scent was all over Charlie's house. I think it was Sue's son, Seth. He caught our scent the second Jasper and I got close."

"We got out of there as soon as possible," Jasper added. Alice unfroze before Edward, taking Allegra down stairs and out side where the family had gathered. Edward followed once they were out of sight.

"How could you have missed something like this?!" he demanded pulling Allegra out of Alice's arms.

"Now, Edward," Carlisle said, patiently, "no one expects Alice to be omnipotent."

"This is huge, Carlisle. This is dangerous and she's supposed to be watching the future for any threats to Allegra's safety!"

"I can't watch everything! Important things will start falling through the cracks," Alice snapped.

"Well it seems like important things already are."

"Alice isn't Lyra, Edward!" Jasper growled. Edward sighed and tried to relax. This _was_ huge, he needed to be relaxed and level headed to deal with this situation. He knew not to expect Alice to see everything, she wasn't Lyra and he was glad she wasn't.

"I'm sorry, Alice. I know you're doing your best, but this is not good," Edward said.

"Well, I don't like it anymore than you do," she sighed. _That baby is _my _niece! I don't like the thought of be blind to anything,_ she thought._ Least of all something that could be dangerous for Allegra. First Bella and now this!_

"What do we do?" Jasper asked. He wasn't happy with Edward, but didn't press the matter since he'd apologized.

"Obviously Allegra won't be going to see Charlie now," Rosalie said.

Edward nodded. Allegra was being oddly quiet but he didn't pay much attention to that. He didn't like it but Rosalie was right. With Werewolves running around the police chief's house he couldn't have his baby over there. Perhaps they could invite Charlie over to their house.

"Daddy, look!" Allegra exclaimed, pointing into the forest. Edward pulled her behind him, cradling her gently behind his back. He couldn't believe he hadn't figured it out sooner. All those years ago when they came into this area the shape shifters showed up. Why wouldn't they show up this time? And why wouldn't they show up unannounced to the house?


	11. The Wolf's Call

A/N: Sorry to all my Jacob lovers, I've always thought he was kind of stupid. Sweet, but stupid. His moronic wolfy claim on Bella always bothered me, plus I felt like he wanted her like you want a new car, not that he loved her. I play up the possessiveness and give him another girl to droll over. Here's hoping it all ends well for him!

This chapter might be a little weird, let me know.

**Hey, hey, hey, all you people reading and not reviewing, you're the reason it takes me so long to update. So pat yourselves on the back and don't hold your breathe for the next update.**

Disclaimer: If I was making money off of this I wouldn't be a penniless college student and interestingly enough I wouldn't have it any other way.

Chapter Ten

The Wolf's Call

It was a very good thing that vampires were quick in Edward's opinion. Alice was on the phone with Hannah before the pack of seventeen shape shifters could get close enough to even speak to them. They were in their human form and Jasper was using his gift to keep them calm, so things stayed relatively under control. He'd thankfully managed to keep Allegra out of sight, but they had noticed the odd smell and Rosalie's mention of her.

Edward had no idea how they were going to explain her presence and was very thankful when he heard that Hannah was coming with back up. There were seven of them and they could probably hold their own against the werewolves, but Edward doubted that they would all come out unscathed or even alive for that matter.

They were calm and all of their thoughts seemed peaceable. The pack just wanted to know what the Cullens were doing back in Forks. They wanted to know if this meant they needed to renegotiate the treaty. Not unreasonable demands and it certainly wasn't the demands he was worried about.

Their fixation on Allegra's strange smell and what they heard of her scared the shit out of him.

He was thinking about making a run for it when Carlisle stepped forward to address Sam Uley, the apparent Alpha of this rag tag pack of shape shifters. There were a few faces that he expected, remembering their grandfathers and a few he didn't. Like Embry Call and Leah Clearwater. She and her bother accounted for the heavy scent of wet dog hanging around Charlie's house.

The improbability of a female shape shifter in this particular pack was not something Edward cared to dwell on. It was awkward enough for them. What he didn't like were the thoughts running through Jacob Black's head. The young man shaped creature was convinced that Edward knew where Bella was and that that was why he wanted to see Charlie. Jacob had only been momentarily sidetracked by the odd smell. All he cared about was Bella.

Edward would have respected that, even agreed with Jacob if it hadn't been for the heart wrenching, jealousy inducting memories running through his head. He was recalling the moment Sam found Bella in the forest after Edward broke up with her. He was thinking about the first time she came over to his house, with two motorcycles in the bed of her truck. He was remembering fondly the moment she started looking and acting human again.

It was a happy memory for him. It was a sad memory for Edward. He should have been the one to bring her back to life. He should have been smart enough not to leave her in the first place.

Allegra wiggled in his arms. Silently reminding him that something truly wonderful came from that break up. Something he wouldn't trade the world for.

"I'm sorry that we had to meet under these conditions," Carlisle apologized. He was actually sorry, his honesty in moments like this never failed to amaze Edward. Jasper was on Carlisle right, controlling the emotional atmosphere of the conversation completely. Emmett was on his left, a show of strength and in Edward's opinion blunt stupidity. Emmett thought this was going to be fun.

"You must understand," Carlisle went on. "We weren't aware that the pack had come back to this area. If we had, we certainly would have made contact sooner to reaffirm the treaty."

Sam nodded, as far as he was concerned nothing really needed to change. As long as the Cullens stayed off their land, it was no big deal. It was annoying and he didn't like it, none of them did, but it wasn't something to get upset about. The only reason they came was to make sure the vampires they smelled were in fact the Cullens and not someone else.

"We do understand," Sam said. "We only came to make sure it was you guys and not someone else." His eyes shifted to Edward the same time his thoughts shifted to the strange smell.

Edward tightened his grip on Allegra, who squealed in protest. The pack moved into attack position and the Cullens formed a circle around Edward. Allegra, who up to that point had been very quiet and well behaved, began hitting her Daddy in the head. She wanted his attention. She didn't like being held behind his back, she wanted to know what was going on. Were these friends like the Denali or someone new? She _wanted_ to know.

Rosalie put a gentle but firm hand over Allegra's mouth to keep her from verbally demanding attention. Edward made a mental note to be nicer to her from then on. He didn't really care in that moment if she wanted to be Allegra's mother, she could want to be both of Allegra's parents for all he cared if it kept his baby girl safe.

"What was that?" Sam demanded.

"I knew it," Jacob said. "I knew they were up to something. Those filthy bloodsuckers are hiding something. Something that has to do with Bella."

"Hey!" Allegra said, muffled by Rosalie's hand, but still audible.

"It's a person," one of the shape shifter said. Edward didn't care to identify who.

"They have a human in there!" said another.

The pack was about to attack with or without Sam's order, but by the looks of the situation they were going to get his approval. Jasper was too focused on protecting Allegra to calm the pack down in time. They were going to attack and Edward was going to run when Hannah showed up.

She came tumbling out of the thick mist that had enveloped the forest, ran right into Sam, thus breaking his concentration and giving Jasper a chance to calm everybody down. She was thinking about flirting with him, but changed her mind just as quickly. Hannah flitted over to the Cullens, peaked over Edward's shoulder to check on Allegra and whispered so quietly that only they could hear her. "I got you plenty of back up, but just so you know I called in a huge favor for this one. In fact I'm probably going to have to marry one of his sons."

In the next second the house was surrounded. Hundreds upon hundreds of massive wolves formed a semicircle around the Cullens. At the helm were three very interesting looking people, two women and a man (obviously the leader of this pack). The man was tall, trim with muscle. He was dressed in a long, worn brown trench coat, a half open black dress shirt, showing off his abs and tattoos, and black jeans. The woman looked like they belonged in another century. They wore flowing silk dresses that draped across their lithe, muscular bodies. They looked like they'd be comfortable in ancient Greece.

The wolves themselves ranged in color. Some were the darkest black, while others glittered white. Some were so massive that they made the house look small, others were smaller, but none were smaller than a horse. The most telling thing about these wolves though, was that they didn't smell bad. They smelled similar to Allegra and Hannah. Musty, like old leather, and woodsy, but not toxic.

Their minds were separate, but all connected to their leader. They were fiercely loyal to their leader and their leader was fiercely loyal to Bella, who often helped him take care of his enemies. He loved Allegra, like many people seemed to, and would do anything to protect her.

He paid no mind to the pack of shape shifters, who were now so woefully out numbered that they were considering making a run for it. It was humorous now that Edward had been thinking of doing the exact same thing. Fear kept them from moving along with curiosity, arrogance and youthful stupidity.

The leader made his way confidently up to Carlisle, followed closely by his two companions. "My name is Lucien, this is my mate Marcheline, my oldest daughter Uryna, my other children," he indicated the left flank of wolves, "and the rest of my pack." He indicated the rest of the pack with a vague wave of his hand. He'd been leader of this Werewolf pack for most of his life (which was several ten of thousands of years longer then Edward ever imagined living) and was no longer in awe of the masses.

"We would like to offer our services to you as guards. Some of my daughters have taken it upon themselves to be professionals at this sort of thing," Lucien said.

He smiled at the two large pure white wolves standing near the front door. Edward learned from his thoughts that these were two of his oldest daughters. Uryna was the oldest of triplets. Kaatya and Anya were the younger two. Sitting on their massive haunches next to Kaatya and Anya, were Lucien's three youngest daughters. But they wouldn't be youngest for long, apparently Marcheline was pregnant again. With the couples twenty eighth, twenty ninth and thirtieth child.

Next to Kaatya and Anya were McKailyanna (who preferred to be called McKay), Radiavana and Katarciena. They were the few daughters that had become professional body guards, much to their father's pleasure. The rest of his fifteen daughters still lived off of him, waiting until they met their mate to move on. Kaatya, Anya, McKay, Radiavana and Katarciena had already moved on and were spending their own money on all those things women seemed to find necessary.

"That's very generous of you," Carlisle said. "I'd prefer to end this peacefully and-" Carlisle stopped suddenly. Edward looked up. Lucien had given a slight wave of his hand at his pack. In response they all began to shift back into their human-like forms. The largest wolves were the quickest and most resembled Lucien and Marcheline. The smaller wolves were slower but still fast. They all came out of their shift completely clothed, due to the magic inherent in their genetic make up.

"If you want this peaceful then it will be peaceful. The show of strength was just that. We have come here loyal to Bella, loyal to Allegra," he said. Edward flinched.

"Where is Bella?!" Jacob yelled. He sensed that this would be his only chance to get a word in. The pack had all but been disregarded and he needed to know. He wasn't paying attention to anyone but Lucien. Edward looked over at Kaatya who seemed to be getting angrier by the second. She was staring at Jacob with the most furious look on her face that Edward had ever seen.

"Bella's whereabouts are none of your concern, boy," Lucien snapped.

"I disagree," Jacob said, showing a bit of back bone.

"I'd have thought you would." Lucien's smile was unpleasant. Sam pulled Jacob aside, the Quileute pack huddled up. "Perhaps you should take Allegra inside."

"Who is Allegra?" Sam asked. He felt like demanding an answer, but knew better. He wasn't about to press his luck by being arrogant and getting his pack killed.

"Allegra is my daughter," Edward said. He knew from the minds of the Quileute pack that they had no intention of leaving without knowing exactly what was going on in and around Forks. In retrospect it probably wasn't the best idea he ever had, considering the reaction of the pack.

"A bloodsucker baby," one of them muttered, the voice sounded female, so Edward assumed it was Leah. Her tone was bitter with hate. It just figured. None of these children knew them from a hole in the wall but hated them all the same. It was illogical and infuriating. Just because Allegra was associated with them, most of the pack hated her already.

It was truly infuriating.

"What does this little bloodsucker have to do with Bella?" Jacob asked. He was only being mildly more polite because Sam had forced him to be. Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper growled at Jacob. He might have thought he was being more polite but calling Allegra 'little bloodsucker' hadn't won him any friends.

Lucien's pack rippled aggressively. A few of his children were growing taller, like they were on the very verge of shifting. Kaatya looked like she might have grown three feet in her rage. Sam pushed his pack back a few feet, obviously taking the threat much more seriously then Jacob.

"Allegra is _not_ a 'little bloodsucker'," Hannah said, pulling herself away from one of Lucien's sons. She straightened her blood red t-shirt that read, 'Will Thee Kiss Me In The Dark, Baby?' across the front. "She's not a vampire anymore than she's human. She's Bella's daughter."

Jacob froze. In his mind, Edward could see the wheels turning and turning coming to the only conclusion he thought possible.

"Bella came back, didn't she?" he asked Edward. His voice was calm but his mind was chaos. "You got back together with her, didn't you? You two-" Jacob broke off shuddering at the thought. "And she got pregnant. When she had that _little monster_, it either killed her or you did when you smelled her blood. You killed Bella Swan didn't you!? That's why he won't tell me where she is! Because she's dead!"

Jacob shifted in an instant after that statement and came bounding towards Edward. Emmett, Jasper and Carlisle all stood protectively in front of him and Allegra, but Jacob never reached his goal. Before he'd even made it half way to Edward, a sleek white wolf cut him. Kaatya dipped her head low, underneath Jacob's head and bucked upward. The action sent Jacob flying back to his pack. She stilled, standing up on her hind legs, growling menacingly at Jacob.

Lucien walked slowly to his daughter's side, placed a calming hand on her massive hind quarters and spoke lowly to Sam, "I believe it's time that you leave. This family and more specifically that baby is under my protection now. Any move you make against them, is a move against me and that won't end well. Don't you agree?"

Sam nodded, slowly. "We still need to talk about this…. Carlisle," he said. "About the treaty, about Bella. She was our friend- Charlie's only family. We need to know what happened to her."

"She's working, little boy," Lucien snapped. "She'll be back for her baby in a few months."

"We'll need proof of that," Sam said, quickly. Kaatya snarled and snapped her razor sharp teeth at Jacob. She hadn't taken her eyes off of him since she'd seen him. Jacob was now staring back at her, his wolf eyes wide in shock.

"You'll take my word and be glad it's all I've given you," Lucien growled. "Now go, little boy, take your puppies and hie thee from this place."

The Quileutes, most confused by Lucien's medieval parting words, left quickly without a lingering glance at the larger pack or the Cullens. But Jacob couldn't take his eyes off Kaatya and hadn't shifted back yet, so Quil and Embry were forced to drag him, unwillingly, away.

Once they were out of sight, Jacob gave a long heart broken howl to the noon day sun.


	12. The Jacobean Era

A/N: There we are! All my Jacob fans should be appeased by the end of this chapter! I'm kind of squashing Eclipse and Breaking Dawn together and changing up the plot a bit. You'll get a taste of it at the end of the chapter.

**THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED THAT NEVER HAD BEFORE!!! YOU GUYS ROCK!!! KEEP IT UP AND I'LL KEEP UPDATING!!! And please in your review tell me if you have any idea what Bella's job is. I'm trying figure out if I've set it up properly, so that people won't be too surprised when they find out. I don't want any of my readers crapping their pants. It'd just be embarrassing.**

Disclaimer: I really don't do enough of these. Doing this one is making me all sentimental! I think I might cry! You can call me a softy but you surely can't call me a thief. No matter how much I haggle that author lady won't give up her characters. I offered her a whole fifty cents, too!

Chapter Eleven

The Jacobean Era

Bella liked to drink. Anyone who'd been morbidly depressed for more or less six decades liked to drink. So in an effort to stave off the depression inherent in missing her daughter's birthday, she drank like a fish and looked at the pictures Hannah had given her of the party. Her red headed friend ran off all of the sudden about two hours ago and Bella had spent that time getting as drunk as physically possible (which really wasn't that drunk. The Dien body naturally fended off any toxins other than its own. Getting drunk or doing drugs was so hard most Dien didn't bother.)

The first picture was of Allegra pouting in Edward's arms. She looked miserable in her pretty pink dress and Edward looked upset, because she was upset. The second picture was of Allegra curtsying, pulling the back of her dress up and giving a toothy smile to the camera. The third was of the four year old Razzante triplets vying for Rosalie's attention. The fourth of the rest of the Razzante boys vying for Allegra's attention. The picture showed her ignoring them in favor of Oliver. It just figured. Even Bella's baby knew who she'd be spending the rest of her life with.

Most of the rest were of Allegra playing on the carnival rides and opening her presents. Bella's favorite pictures were those of Edward taking care of her girl. There was the one where he pulled the diamond bracelet out of her mouth. The other picture of him yanking her off the side of a massive teeter totter. Him cleaning off the cinnamon roll from her forehead. Him hovering over her while she jumped on the trampoline.

He was proving himself worthy in those pictures. He was proving her right.

Bella took the picture of him pulling a diamond ring out of her mouth and stuffed it into her purse. That was her baby all right and her overprotective vampire. They were perfectly matched. Allegra was a disaster waiting to happen and Edward was anal. They truly were perfect for each other.

Hannah shuffled back into the bar and sat down next to Bella with a huff.

"That baby of yours is trouble with a capital T," she said. Bella smiled.

"What'd she do this time?"

"Oh, it wasn't her fault." Hannah grabbed Bella drink and gulped down the rest of it. "She's just too much like you as a human. Just attracts trouble."

"Hmm. What was it?" Bella asked, slightly annoyed that Hannah wasn't just telling her. Allegra was still her daughter after all.

"Some near by Native American tribe is filled to brim with shape shifters. They found out that your vamp boyfriend and his family was back in town and flipped a shit. So the family called me for back up. I got Lucien to send in his pack. Pretty effectively scared 'em off."

"Did you find out which tribe it was?" Bella had a pretty good idea, but wanted a confirmation.

"The Quileute tribe. Some guy was yelling about you being dead and then Kaatya kicked his ass. They left after that. Lucien had a few of his kids stay behind in case the tribe grew some testicles and actually tried something. But I think that Kaatya just wanted another go at that Jacob-"

"Jacob?" Bella asked. "Jacob Black?"

"Yeah," Hannah said. "You know him?"

"He was my best friend back in Forks. What was he doing? Yelling about me being _dead_?"

"Yup, I told him that Allegra was your daughter and he assumed that you came back, slept with Edward and either died in child birth or was murdered by Edward when he smelled your blood while giving birth. Guy's got a sick mind," Hannah muttered. Bella was silent for a moment, staring open mouthed at her friend.

"He thought I was _dead_? How could he have come up with such a hair brained idea?!" The concept was inconceivable. Mostly because she wasn't dead. Bella was sure that if she was dead, she'd feel differently about the entire situation.

"To hell if I know. Edward said something about him not believing for one second that you'd leave a child you had with another man with a bunch of bloodsuckers. It almost turned into a fight when they found out about her. Edward said they weren't anywhere near letting it go, but with Lucien's back up it should be fine."

"They have the upper hand, right? The Cullens have more people on their side then the Quileutes, right?" If they didn't Bella would be heading back to Forks sooner then she thought she would be.

"Oh definitely, I wouldn't have left if they hadn't." Bella sighed in relief. She was mad as hell at Jacob, but at least he wouldn't be able to do any damage until she got back. And then a not so pleasant thought struck her.

"Why exactly did Kaatya attack Jacob? She always seemed so level headed to me," Bella said, confused.

"Yeah well, Jacob oh dumb ass of Dumbassville decided to charge Edward and Allegra once he figured out that you were 'dead'. Kaatya stopped him before he got even half way over." Bella stood up.

"I'm gonna kill him!" she exclaimed. The bar went quiet. Everyone was staring at her with wide, horrified eyes. Every last one of them was terrified she was talking about them. Hannah rolled her eyes at the horrified patrons and pushed Bella back onto the bar stool.

"There's no need. Kaatya whacked him into his place and Lucien used his scary Alpha voice to drive the point home. If those shape shifters get anywhere near that house, Lucien's kids will be all over them."

Bella sighed and ordered another drink. It was going to be long four weeks if all she had to rely on for her daughter's safety was twenty seven hyperactive Werewolves.

---

Edward tried tapping his foot to alleviate some of the stress. It didn't do any good, but managed to put Charlie at ease. To say that the police chief was surprised to see him, Carlisle and Jasper was the understatement of the century. Bella was completely right, of course. Charlie didn't ask any questions about how they looked, he just assumed that they were the same as Bella. Edward had called him a few days before to tell him they'd be visiting with his granddaughter. He was thrilled of course and demanded to talk to her on the phone.

He was very surprised by Allegra. Only one year old, talking, reading, writing. It was a lot for one so young. But he chalked it up to Bella's surprising intelligence.

The whole visit was going much better than Edward imagined. He was keeping a close eye on Charlie's thoughts, Jasper was managing Charlie's emotions and Carlisle was keeping him talking. It was difficult to think too hard on any topic at the rate Carlisle was going. Edward was pleased that his father had Charlie so distracted. It kept the police chief from noticing Edward's obvious stress.

Leah and Seth were sniffing around the edge of the house, carefully avoiding Anya, McKay and Kaatya, who'd come with the Cullens. Their thoughts revolved around Allegra's odd smell and any plans they could create at a moment's notice in case 'the bloodsucker's got hungry.'

Their suspicion was not what caused Edward the most stress, it was the fact that they thought Allegra was a baby vampire. An immortal child. That would be bad if anyone who knew what that actually meant found out. It wasn't the kind of crime they held a trial for. It would mean the deaths of all his family and the attempted murder of his daughter. He was sure that no one, not even the Volturi, would be able to hurt his baby, but without the family she would be at their imaginary mercy until Bella got back.

It was risk he couldn't take.

Just imagining her all alone, subject to whatever _experiments_ they decided to do to determine what exactly she was, made him horribly angry and terribly scared. _She_ would be scared, crying, begging for her Daddy and Daddy wouldn't be able to do anything to help her. To make her feel better.

It was as heart wrenching as it was horrifying.

Allegra was currently laying on her stomach coloring with the crayons Charlie had gotten her for her birthday. She absolutely loved them. When she opened the present she made sure to let her Daddy know about every feature that she loved. "There's a hundred and fifty colors and their all different! And I found one that's even sparkly! And there's a crayon sharpener in the back. And it's got a nifty handle so I can take my crayons everywhere. And…" The list went on.

Edward listened carefully. He always listened when she spoke to him, but the recent danger made him very sentimental about her. He wanted to remember every little thing she ever said to him, in case….

In case when Bella came back she decided that it was too dangerous to raise a child surrounded by vampires and shape shifters and took Allegra away. He wouldn't blame her, hell he might even encourage it. It would break his heart as surely as it would kill him, but if it meant that Allegra was safe he could live with it. Or at the very least die knowing she was safe and whole somewhere.

Edward was pulled from his unhappy thoughts when Allegra scrambled onto his lap. She pressed her hand to his neck, showing him what he looked like from her point of view. He looked miserable and scared. She wanted to know why.

"Daddy's worrying about silly things, Allegra," he whispered low enough that only she, Jasper and Carlisle would hear. She smiled and held up the picture she'd been working on. It was a very crude version of the painting of Bella.

The actual painting was hanging on the wall between his and Allegra's rooms. Edward's heart hurt every time he walked past it but Allegra liked it so it stayed up.

Jasper gave Edward a hard look. All his worrying had taken a toll on his brother. Jasper was already mad at him because Alice started looking for Bella in the future again and was getting the same results she did before Allegra arrived. It didn't matter much to Jasper that Edward had asked her not to bother (not because he didn't want her to and more so because he didn't want her to be upset) she was still tried, gave up and then got sad for giving up. The pattern repeated everyday that either Edward or Jasper couldn't distract her before she started searching.

Spending so much of the day dealing with Edward's melodrama was doing nothing for Jasper's mood. He growled quietly when Edward's fear was replaced with guilt. "Don't be stupid, Edward," Jasper hissed.

"What?" Charlie asked.

"Edward's just being an idiot," he muttered, unhappily.

"Oh." Charlie chuckled lightly.

The police chief wasn't too happy with Edward either, but those feelings revolved more around jealously and anger. He was jealous that Bella gave Allegra to Edward to take care of instead of him. Charlie knew very well that Edward and the rest of the Cullens would take better care of her then he ever could, but it didn't stop him from feeling bitter about it. He was angry because he still blamed Edward for Bella leaving.

It was a never ending cycle of jealously, anger and grief and Edward didn't blame Jasper one bit for being on edge about it.

Edward froze when he heard Jacob's thoughts coming around the corner. His thoughts were calm, sad and slightly wistful. He was remembering Bella, he was thinking about Allegra and how much he wanted to get to know her. He wasn't in love with Bella, not anymore. Everything in Jacob's world had become exponentially more complicated since the Cullens had returned.

Edward forced his mind away from Jacob's thoughts while he shifted back into his human form. The boy didn't come to make trouble so Edward would be cordial but he wouldn't happy about it and he certainly wouldn't be letting Allegra anywhere near the shape shifter.

Edward quickly and quietly informed both Carlisle and Jasper about Jacob's arrival and the peace making thoughts running through his head. With Jasper mood the way it was springing anything sudden on him was a bad idea. He was having hard enough time dealing with all the emotions running rampant around the room and fighting his blood lust to control himself should anything unexpected happen.

Edward, Carlisle and Jasper were all looking at the door when Jacob knocked. Charlie, startled (he hadn't been expecting anyone, what with Sue visiting friends on the reservation) got up and answered the door.

"Hey, Charlie," Jacob said, glumly. Jasper groaned quietly, another melancholy mood to add to the already uplifting environment (note the sarcasm).

"Jake!" Charlie exclaimed, surprised. According to Charlie's memories, Jacob hadn't been around much since Bella left. He came for Charlie and Sue's wedding but was a ghost for most events taking place at the house. "Come on in, meet my Granddaughter." He was so proud, so happy. It was refreshing, for Jasper anyway.

Jacob walked slowly into the room, careful not to make any sudden movements. He wanted to talk to Edward alone and projected those thoughts right into Edward's head. Edward muttered softly to Carlisle.

"Charlie, I was wondering if you could show me some of your fishing rods? I've been thinking about taking up the hobby myself and was wondering…" Carlisle swiftly and deftly directed Charlie out of the house and into the garage, where his fishing equipment was stored.

"Thanks," Jacob muttered. He sat down on the couch across from Edward and as far away from Jasper as physically possible.

Edward nodded slowly, never breaking eye contact with the young man. Allegra pressed her hand into his neck and asked who the newcomer was. "This is Jacob, Allegra," Edward said. "He was a friend of your Mommy's."

Allegra perked up and tried to wiggle off of her Daddy's lap, but he wasn't having any of that. Edward held onto her and kept her a still as possible. She pouted both physically and mentally letting her Daddy know that she wasn't happy. Edward curled her into his chest and rubbed her back soothingly, it didn't do much good, but it made him feel better.

"What exactly do you want, Jacob?" Edward asked as soon as Allegra settled down.

"Bella was real torn up when you left," he said softly. "I was mad at for you a long time and then I thought… 'Hey, maybe _I_ could be what he was for her. Maybe I could make her Bella again.' I couldn't, I know that now. She made it clear who she wants-"

"Where did all this tolerance come from?" Jasper snapped. He thought very pointedly of Jacob's attack a few days ago.

"Kaatya stopped my house later on that day. As it turns out I had it all wrong, not too big a surprise, but hey." Jacob shrugged and went on. "It turns out I was all wrong about a lot of things. For the past five years I thought I was in love with Isabella Swan. I thought that if she'd have just stayed, I could have gotten her to love me like she loved you, Edward. But I couldn't have, because I didn't love her." He nodded, feeling embarrassed and stupid all at the same time.

"That's very nice to know," Edward said, curtly. "You still haven't explained how this enlightenment came about."

"Like I said, Kaatya came by. She told me all about Bella getting pregnant with some guy and then deciding she wanted it to be your baby. She also told me that we were life mates, meant to be together forever. It sure simplifies thing," Jacob added thoughtfully.

"What does this have to do with Allegra?" Jasper asked. Jacob was feeling better now that he was thinking about Kaatya and that improved Jasper's mood, thus lightening the tone of the entire conversation.

"Just because I don't harbor the same feelings for Bella that I used to doesn't mean that I don't still care about her. She obviously loves her baby, I mean how could she not, she is Bella after all. She'd love a lion if she could." Edward sighed at the irony. "I know that she probably already knows all about my freak out a few days ago and is probably pissed to the high heavens at me. I was hoping that if I made it up to her daughter she wouldn't be too mad at me."

Edward grumbled unhappily. Jacob was looking longingly at the baby in his arms and the baby in his arms was thinking longing of climbing on the tall man across the room. It was a no win situation. Allegra wanted to climb on Jacob, mess up his hair, show him her drawings. He was her Mommy's friend that meant, in Allegra's one year old mind, that he was her friend too. She'd treat him accordingly.

Edward loosened his grip on his daughter. Allegra wiggled out of his arms, fumble gracelessly to the floor and crawled over to Jacob. Both Jasper and Edward kept a close eye on their interaction. Ready to snatch her away at the mere hint of danger. But there was no need. Jacob was letting her climb all over him, catching her when she wobbled and righting her. She pulled on his hair and demanded to know what exactly he liked most about her pictures.

Edward was starting to relax for the first time that day when Jacob remembered something. Something very important.

"I almost forgot to tell you," he said. Jacob was smiling even though the news was nothing to smile about. He just couldn't help grinning like fool at Allegra, no one could in fact. "My pack came across a strange scent the other day. One we haven't smelled in years, since before Bella left. It was a female bloodsucker."

Edward could see it flowing through Jacob's mind. The hard, cold scent pushing him and his fellow wolves along. A tangle of bright red hair caught in the bark of tree. Bare foot prints in the mud.

Victoria.


	13. And the Bad News Abounds

A/N: This is a chapter I'd describe as short but juicy. Please enjoy!

**YOU WILL FIND OUT WHAT BELLA'S JOB IS IN THIS CHAPTER!!! SO BE PREPARED!!! AND REVIEW DAMN IT!!!!**

Chapter Twelve

And the Bad News Abounds

"Isabella, this is never going to work if you spend your days moping around and your nights drinking," James snapped. Bella rolled her eyes. She knew he was right, but she missed her baby too much to care at the moment. "I know you miss Allegra, but she's in good hands. Hands that aren't expecting you back for six months-"

"James, I took care of this when you knew I didn't want to. I assassinated five people because you asked me to. I stayed here to make the mess I made look better when you knew wanted to go get my baby. So don't you dare sit there all high and mighty acting like this is my fault. They're not my clean up crew, they're your clean up crew," Bella snapped.

James stared at Bella until he realized he wouldn't be able to intimidate her. "You need to make this better, Isabella. I don't care how long it takes. If you make this better I swear to you that I will never, ever ask you to kill for me again. Do you understand?"

Bella sighed and shook her head. She could yell at him, she could demand things of him, she could treat him disrespectfully, but she couldn't disobey him. There was no getting around it. She would be staying for a little bit longer, but that didn't mean she was ready to give up the fight just yet.

"I have a life you know and a daughter. It isn't just my life being screwed up here! My baby misses me, she needs me, she wants me. You can't keep me away from her just because your cleaning crew couldn't get to my mess fast enough."

"I can do whatever I want," James said simply. Bella knew he was right, but continued to fight.

"Anyone with a big enough gun can do whatever they want, James. And I'm the only armed person in the room," she snapped.

"You wouldn't kill me even if you meant that. Anyone in your position knows that whoever they answer to has thousands more resources then they do. I could kill you and your daughter without much effort, but that's not going to happen. You, young lady, are going to do what you're told, aren't you?"

Bella didn't dignify that with an answer.

"I'm seventy-nine years old, James and you are only ninety years older than me. We've known each other for most of that time you should know better than to call me a lady at this point."

James smiled. It wasn't pleasant.

"You should know better than to try and fight me to avoid doing what's expected of you. I hope you don't mess up this time, Isabella. Just imagine what your daughter and your precious vampire will think when if after six months of waiting you don't show up."

Bella nodded and faked a happy smiled. It seemed to appease James enough to let her leave. She couldn't imagine what Allegra and Edward and the rest of the Cullens would think if she didn't come back after six months. She couldn't imagine what they would think once they found out what she had been doing, what she'd been paid to do after they left. She didn't want to think about it, didn't want to imagine it.

But she did know that it wouldn't be good.

How could it when she'd spent most of the past sixty years getting paid to kill people she'd never met?

---

"I went to the party and I had a apple juice! I went to the movies and I had a apple juice! I went to the pa-ark and I had a apple juice!" Allegra sang at the top of her little lungs. She was sitting on the kitchen counter licking the frosting off of the cinnamon roll Jacob had just given her.

She wanted to prove that she was just as musically talented as her Daddy and decided that her forte was in song writing. Allegra came up with that little number moments before asking Jacob if he wanted to hear her song. He said yes and thus the singing began.

Jacob was only at the Cullen house because Allegra wanted to play with her kitten, Chocolate never came out when any of the family was around and Edward didn't want her to be alone. It was Jacob or Hannah and Jacob was less crude and more convenient. He also had become a valuable, if improbable, ally. The Quileute pack was still suspicious of Allegra, but conceded that she wasn't an immortal child.

The wolves had no quells about doubling the efforts in search of Victoria. They did, however, mind when Emmett and Jasper tagged along. A few of the younger, more impressionable shape shifters complained about it, saying they had a hard time telling the difference between the bloodsucker they were tracking and the bloodsuckers that were helping.

Edward knew this wasn't true and fortunately so did Sam. He had a hard time excepting the Cullens into the fold, but got over it as soon as he met Allegra. She had him, Jacob and pretty much the rest of the pack wrapped around her chubby little finger.

"I went to the kit-tchen and I had a apple ju-uice!" Allegra screamed. Edward sighed and glanced at Jasper, who was trying to console Alice. She'd failed to find Bella yet again and was taking it pretty hard.

"Jasper, could you settle her down?" he asked. Jasper barely glanced in the direction of the kitchen and the singing faded into nothing. Edward watched her snuggle into Jacob's massive chest and fall asleep. It was just as well, he didn't want her to overhear the conversation they were about to have. Jacob took her up to her room, tucking Allegra and her kitten into her crib and came back down stairs.

"I honestly don't see why you bother with Bella, Alice," Jacob said, exhibiting his glorious lack of tact. He sat down next to Sam on one of the couches in the living room. Jacob lounged back, obviously more at ease then his Alpha. "Kaatya said she's fine. You should really be focusing on Victoria."

"I agree," Carlisle said. "Hannah told us she was fine, as well, and Hannah has yet to lead us astray."

"Bella is my friend!" Alice huffed. "I can't stand the fact that I can't see her. It makes me so nervous." Jasper wrapped a protective arm around his mate.

"We all agree with you, Alice," Esme said gently. "We all love and miss Bella but right now we know she's all right. Victoria on the other hand is loose canon, we have no idea what she's capable of." Esme reached out and touched Alice's hand. "It might make you feel better to focus your visions on something you _can_ see."

"You don't want me to stop looking for her, do you, Edward?" Alice asked turning towards him. "You miss her as much as I do!"

"Alice, I don't want you to be upset anymore. Carlisle and Esme are right. Hannah and Kaatya said that she's fine, they'll let us know if that fact changes. For now we all need to focus on the most pressing threat. And that is Victoria."

Alice sighed, but Edward could see that she was being swayed by their logic. "Could you two go sit in the corner. It's impossible to see anything with you so close," she said to Sam and Jacob. They both nodded and made their way into the corner of the living room.

She squeezed her eyes closed and started scanning Victoria's future. Satisfied, Edward turned his attention away from her and onto Sam and Jacob. This was supposed to be a strategic meeting of sorts. They were just waiting for Kaatya and her sisters to return from their run around the area.

"Do you have any clues about what she might be planning?" Carlisle asked.

"She started showing up again around the same time you guys got back," Sam said. "She must have some gift for evasion. We couldn't corner her."

"Do you know if she had any interaction with Laurent before you…?" Edward asked, leaving off the end of the question. They had found out what had really happened to Laurent from Jacob a few days ago. It wasn't a pleasant thing to think about, especially considering how Irina would feel about it.

"Laurent did have her scent on him when we killed him," Jacob said.

"That's not good."

"Understatement of the millennia, Edward," Rosalie snapped. She could picture it in her head and unfortunately Edward was privy to that picture. Laurent telling Victoria about the child that Edward and the family loved so much. The completely helpless child that they protected like the lost treasure of Atlantis. Victoria with that information was a bad combination.

"I personally don't think we have anything to worry about," Emmett said. Rosalie and Edward growled in unison. For once they were both in complete agreement.

"Of course we have to worry!" Edward insisted.

"Victoria came here after we left to hurt us through Bella. Now she could try to hurt us through Allegra!" Rosalie said, pushing Emmett's arm off of her shoulders.

"Oh, come on, babe!" he complained. "Just hear me out." Rosalie rolled her eyes, but nodded. "There are seven of us vampires, seventeen horse sized wolves and a pack of werewolves so massive they make this house look small, do you honestly think she's going to get past all of us? It's not like when James came after Bella. Then we outnumbered them seven to two. Now it's closer to fifty one to one. There is _no_ _way_ she's going to get to Allegra."

"I hate to admit it," Edward sighed, "but he's got a point."

"We still need to deal with Victoria," Jacob insisted, thinking about that one in a million chance that the vampire got anywhere near Allegra.

"I agree."

The conversation stopped when Kaatya, Anya and McKay trudged in. Kaatya dusted some invisible dirt from her impeccable sky blue pant suit and curled onto the couch next to Jacob.

"Anything new?" Jacob asked. She allowed him to kiss her cheek.

"We followed her scent south then east. Pradriag and Lorcan, my brothers, are still following her, they have instructions to check back in every thousand miles with an update," Kaatya said. "I have a feeling she's given up on trying to break through our defenses. She's changed plans."

Everyone looked at Alice, who had gone completely ridged. Edward gasped and crumbled to the floor.

"She's going to Volterra," Alice breathed. "She's going to tell the Volturi we've made an immortal child. They're going to come here. They're going to kill us all."


	14. The Brave Will Take Flight

**A/N: LOGIC DICTATES THAT MORE REVIEWS EQUATES A QUICKER UPDATE. SO TO FALICITATE YOUR READING ENJOYMENT REVIEW YOU LAZY $##%&*!!!!!**

Disclaimer: I got a lot of the information and ideas for this chapter from chapter 29 in Breaking Dawn so I'd like to give big thank you and of course credit to Stephanie Meyer.

Chapter Thirteen

The Brave Will Take Flight

"Do you know how many are coming? Do you know when? Why?" Carlisle asked, after a lengthy silence. Most of the family was still frozen with terror. Jasper leaning protectively over Alice, Emmett and Rosalie clinging to each other, Esme's shaking. Carlisle was the voice of reason. Edward was still too horrified to think.

Alice squeezed her eyes shut, while she scanned the predicament they found themselves in, Carlisle explained what was going on the Sam and Jacob. They didn't take it any better.

"Everyone is coming," Alice said at last. "The whole of the guard, Aro, Caius, Marcus, even the wives."

"That can't be right," Jasper said. "The wives never leave the tower."

"They're leaving now!"

"But why?!" Rosalie yelled. Allegra cooed in her crib and then cuddled back to sleep.

"Keep you voice down, Rosalie," Edward said blandly. He got up slowly and made his way to the stairs when Emmett stopped him. "They've been waiting," he muttered, seeing the visions running through Alice's head. "Waiting for an excuse to destroy our family. We're the largest coven they've ever come across other than there own. We're a threat they can't afford. And with mine and Alice's gifts just killing us all is a waste. They were looking for an excuse, Victoria gave it to them. Allegra. They'll be here in a little over a month."

"But Allegra isn't an immortal child!" Rosalie exclaimed. "She just a baby!"

Edward barely paid attention to the aghast look on Rosalie's face. He was too focused on spending the last few weeks he had with his daughter. There was no way they could keep her from them, not with Demetri's talent. Edward had been all over the world in his search for Bella, including Volterra.

"Is there anyway we can stop her?" Carlisle asked.

"No, she's almost there," Alice said.

"Then what do we do?" Esme asked, thoughts of her family's untimely destruction running through her head.

"We fight," Emmett said, solemnly.

"Definitely," Sam muttered in agreement. He was thinking about how exactly he was going to sell the idea of protecting the Cullens to the rest of the pack.

"I don't think there's any other option." Jacob was thinking about how mad Bella was going to be at him, _she'll probably rip my head off if I let anyone else attack her baby,_ he thought.

"She's just a _baby_!" Rosalie insisted again.

"And this isn't exactly the kind of crime they hold a trial for, Rosalie," Edward murmured. His tone was barely interested. "They'll have proof enough from Victoria's thoughts. The memory of Laurent telling her about the strange smelling, oddly intelligent _infant_ living with the Cullens."

"Then we fight," she said.

"We can't win," Jasper said. "The _entire_ guard is coming. That means every last one with all of their immeasurable strength and powers, even with the help of the Quileutes pack we'll be sitting ducks."

"I think you're forgetting your biggest advantage," Jacob said. He nodded towards Kaatya, whose smile was slightly patronizing.

"We don't want this to come to… mass violence," Carlisle said to Kaatya. "If your family gets involved bleed shed is assured."

"I don't think we'll have any other choice," Sam said. "If what you said about the Volturi is true they aren't going to stop for just anyone and listen to reason-"

"That's it!" Alice exclaimed jumping up. Edward turned to her sharply listening to the thoughts running rampant through her head. "We just need to make them stop and _listen_."

"They'll hear she has a heart beat!" Esme said, her mind flooding with hope. "They'll have to admit that she's not an immortal child."

"That might work," Edward said, finally pulled from his miserable stupor. "But if we're surrounded by house sized wolves they'll never stop long enough to actually hear anything. They'll just attack."

"We can hide in the forest, a few miles off," Kaatya said. "And not just the family, but the whole pack. My father cares for Bella and loves Allegra, he'll drop everything for them. We'll have one of the small wolves stay closer by, that way we'll only be few seconds away if it comes to a fight."

"They'll never stop for just us and the Quileutes," Edward said, still not entirely convince this plan would work.

"Then we'll get back up," Alice said.

"We cannot ask our friends to fight the Volturi," Carlisle said.

"No, but we can ask them to be witnesses," Emmett said. "Think about it. If we can get the Volturi to stop and listen they probably won't be convinced merely by the beat of her heart. They'll want the first hand account of her crying and sleeping and breathing and eating and doing all the other non-vampire things she does every day!"

"It's nothing huge," Alice agreed. "And it's certainly nothing that we wouldn't do for any of them."

"Who do you think we can ask?" Jasper asked. "Peter and Charlotte, maybe? We'll need a lot of people."

"Tanya's family, Soibhan's coven," Alice listed. "Amun's coven as well. And we'll need as many nomads as we can get. Garrett and Mary along with Peter and Charlotte. Maybe Alistair."

"What about the Amazons?" Carlisle asked. "Kachiri, Zafrina and Senna. They'll definitely help."

"Maybe. They'll all need to be shown very carefully."

"_Shown_?" Edward asked.

"With Allegra's special little gift, of course," Alice mumbled. _I wish I could talk to Lyra. She'd know exactly how to deal with this._

"You're doing the best you can, Alice," Edward encouraged, warming to the idea. "And there's no telling if Lyra would even divulge what would happen." Alice nodded, still unhappy about her many blind spots.

Carlisle rushed to the phone, making the necessary call to Denali. He was talking a mile a minute merely requesting that they come, not explaining why he wanted them to. No one asked why he was making his strange request, especially after Alice yelled out in the background that they were needed.

While Carlisle was making his calls the rest of the family was getting ready. Emmett and Rosalie were going nomad hunting. Carlisle and Esme would be traveling to Ireland and Egypt to gather more witnesses. Alice and Jasper would be running through the Amazon forest looking for Zafrina's coven.

The family gathered once more in the living room before departing.

"You'll be dealing with the guests on your own, Edward," Carlisle said. "Do you think you'll be able to handle that?"

"Yes, I called Hannah while you were getting ready. She's said she'll be here in a few days," Edward said.

"Tanya's family will be here in the morning. They know it has something to do with Allegra, but aren't sure what." Edward nodded at Carlisle.

"Remember, everyone," Alice said. "We have a month and week before they get here at most and we need time before that to come up with a game plan."

The family nodded, said their farewells and left.

Edward stood at the door, staring blanking at the place where his family had been only moments before. Sam and Jacob came up behind him slowly. They were curious about the vampires coming into town. Edward turned to them not sure how they would respond to the truth.

"The only vampires coming that hold the same reverence for human life are the Denali," he said. "We will make sure that when they hunt it isn't anywhere near the Quileute reservation or Forks. Is that going to be a problem?"

Sam opened his mouth. He was going to say, 'yes,' but Kaatya came up behind them before they could. "Of course it won't. My father has access to bottled Pagan blood. Not Dien blood, of course. That stuff'll kill them, but Siren and Nymph blood won't even spoil. Nice right?"

Sam sighed and Jacob smiled. He desperately wanted this plan to work. Not just so Bella wouldn't hate him once she returned, but for Allegra's sake as well. He knew just like the rest of them that the Volturi wouldn't be able to kill Allegra, but they would be able to kill everyone else. He was thinking about what he would do if the Cullens were killed, if the plans fell through, if Lucien's pack was too late. He would snatch up Allegra and run like hell. He would make sure that the Volturi would never get their hands on her. He would protect her with his dying breath.

"Thank you, Jacob," Edward said.

"You're welcome, man," he said. "I'm not just doing it for you though. Bella was my best friend for a while there."

"Still, I appreciate it." Edward sighed and made his way back up to the living room.

"Kaatya, if you could get that blood before any of the non-vegetarians arrive?"

"Of course."

"Thank you."

"This'll work, Edward," Jacob said. Edward could see that he really believed that it would. "There's no other option. I can't imagine a higher power cruel enough to give you something as precious as Allegra just to take her away so horribly."


	15. Home

A/N: You'll understand my mistrust of the government a bit better by the end of this chapter. Now I can blame my paranoia about The Man on the Volturi.

I'VE GOTTEN A LOT OF REVIEWS COMMENTING ON THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN MY STORY AND BREAKING DAWN I'D JUST LIKE TO SAY THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE CHAPTER THAT IS INCREDIBLY CLOSE TO BREAKING DAWN. I KEEP MY STORY UNIQUE IN THE ENDING AND HOPEFULLY YOU WILL ALL FIND IT SATISFYING.

**BELLA COMES HOME IN THIS CHAPTER PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME IF YOU LIKE HOW I HANDLED IT!!!**

This chapter is dedicated to my new kitten Luna, named after Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. She awful loony and super loving. She's the best!

Disclaimer: Like last chapter a lot of this is influenced by Breaking Dawn which wasn't written by me, don't you know?

Chapter Fourteen

Home

Bella sat on a rock outside of the Cullen's house watching the goings on, curiously. There were a lot more vampires around then she expected and Jacob, which pissed her off. She was only sitting there because she didn't know how to approach the situation. Most of the vampires wouldn't recognize her and they all seemed on edge, not a good time to walk up to a vampire.

Even though they couldn't kill her and in all likelihood would simply take her to one of the Cullens, she wanted her homecoming to be on her terms.

Bella wanted her baby so desperately that it was making her antsy. Both Allegra and Edward were no where to be seen and after fifteen minutes of waiting, she'd had enough. It was far past time she came home. It was honestly a bout of stupidity that had her staying so long in Tunisia. Arrogance and stupidity.

She stood up and Hannah followed suit.

"You go ahead and make sure everyone in there knows I'm coming," she said. "I don't want to startle anyone and you've always been better than me at getting through crowds."

Hannah nodded, laughed a little at Bella's statement and made her way out of the forest towards the house. Several vampires stopped to look at her. She was wearing one of her favorite t-shirts, that stated, "I Only Hate Two Groups of People: Those Who Are Prejudice Against Other's For Their Nationality And The Dutch." It was neon blue and clashed horribly with her pink skinny jeans, but that had never stopped her in the past and it certainly wasn't about to stop her now.

Edward rushed out the door when she got close and started talking right away. Bella missed most of it, but she hear the words, "Allegra" "in" and "danger" all in the same sentence without a "not" in sight and that was enough to get her out of the forest. She ran out from between the trees, paying close attention to every word coming out of Edward's mouth. She wanted to be well informed when she beat the crap out of him for putting her baby in danger.

"What do you mean someone is coming to kill my baby?!" she demanded.

Edward looked over at her, shocked.

"Are you going to answer me?"

Bella's thrill upon seeing him was diminished by fear. The moment he came into view, she realized what she already knew to be true. He was her one true love, he was her world, he was the best thing that could ever happen to her but he was also ten thousand time _less_ important to her then her daughter.

"Bella!" Alice's shrill voice called from the house. She danced out towards Bella, but Edward reached her first. He pulled her up into his arms, his body was shaking and heaving. Almost like he was trying to cry, but lacked the ability.

Bella struggled against him, pushing against the marble hardness of his chest, uselessly. He wouldn't let her go until he was damn well ready. Bella wanted to hug him, telling him everything was okay and that she would forgive him for leaving her if he would forgive her for disappearing for five-ish years and returning with a child. She wanted to kiss him and tell him she had always loved him and would never stop loving him.

When Alice made it over to them, she started pulling on Edward's arm and he growled at her, that was when Bella realized she'd have to try something different to get him to tell her about Allegra. So, she did exactly what she wanted to. She wrapped her arms around him, kissed him all over his face and whispered in his ear all the things she wanted to say… Plus a few.

"I love you, Edward. I love you so much. I never stopped loving you. Please, please, please forgive me. I was so sad. James told me it would make me feel better to do something productive. For a while it did, I could forget how much it hurt, but it never went away entirely. The pain away came back. Something would remind me and I'd just fall apart. And when I found out I was pregnant I wanted so much for that baby to be yours-"

"Thank you, Bella," he whispered into her ear. "You've given me the greatest joy in my life. Thank you." Bella grabbed his cheeks and pushed his face back, he complied.

"That baby girl needed a daddy and I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather have a child with," she said, honestly. "Please, Edward," she begged. "Tell me what's happening with my baby!" Her eyes filled with tears at the thought of her little girl in any danger.

"Victoria came back," he said. Bella closed her eyes, holding the tears at bay. "She found out about Allegra from Laurent. He told her that our little girl was an immortal child and she went to the Volturi."

"Just guessing 'immortal children' are against some vampire law?"

"Yes, they were considered so dangerous that they were all killed along with anyone who dared protect them. They were so lovely that entire covens were destroyed protecting them. They never matured so they were incredibly volatile, any slight upset could send them into a violent rage that would end in the deaths of hundred of humans."

"Not good."

"No, their mood swings were impossible to control. They made it impossible stay inconspicuous."

"I mean those bastards thinking my baby is one these immortal children is not good." Bella ran her hands through her hair, exasperated. "Why would they immediately believe that an upstanding family like yours would do something so terrible? Carlisle was their friend. How could they believe something this awful about their friend?" Bella demanded.

"When Edward found out from Charlie that you'd gone off to do some job with a guy none of us had ever met before, he went looking all over the world for you," Alice explained. Bella tried to look over at her, but Edward wouldn't let her go. "One of the places he looked was Volterra. Aro was intrigued by his search, got a good look at his mind and wanted him to join the Volturi."

"I refused, of course," Edward said.

"I have a feeling that Aro has been obsessed with 'acquiring' Edward ever since."

"He was interested in you too, Alice. And Jasper."

"Edward," Bella said, pushing on his chest once more. "Will you please let me go so I can see my daughter?" Edward let her down, but kept a hold on her hand and took her into the house.

Bella stopped suddenly when Allegra came into view and her eyes clouded with tears. "Oh, sweet baby," she murmured. Allegra was sitting in front of the piano on Jacob's lap, showing him the song Edward had taught her to play. The image was so perfect it would be burned into Bella's mind for the rest of her life.

Allegra looked up when Bella spoke. Her eyes grew wide and she squealed. The entry way was suddenly very crowded. Most of the vampires came when she let out that happy sound. Bella knew it was a happy sound, because she knew her baby, but it would be easy for someone who didn't know her to mistake if for distress. Edward helped her through the throngs of people blocking Bella from her daughter.

Allegra was wiggling in Jacob's arms trying in vain to get to her Mommy. She was begging for her Mommy. "Mommy! Where's my Mommy?! I want my Mommy! Mo-" Bella scooped her up and pressed her against her chest.

"Oh, baby, my sweet Allegra!" Bella sobbed. She pulled her back slightly and looked over her baby. "You're so big, honey. When did you get so big?"

"I got big while you was away, Mommy!" Allegra was crying too, clinging to Bella, showing her images of them together. Forever. "I never wants you to go away again! You was gone too long! I missed you, Mommy!"

"Oh, baby girl," Bella sighed, pulling Allegra back into her chest. Her daughter nestled there, crying into her shirt while she cried into her hair. Edward held them both.

---

"… And then, and then Oliver came in and we played crow boys and then we went on the Ferris Wheel and the rolly coaster and the go around! And then Daddy got pulled away by Grandma and had to go sit with the growed ups. And then I blew out the candle on my sinamon wrolls and wished super duper hard that you'd come back and then you did! And here you are because you did!" Allegra said, talking a mile a minute.

Bella and her were curled on one of the couches in the living room with Edward squished behind Bella. She was sitting half on his lap and didn't seem to mind one bit. She didn't mind Allegra's babbling or the fact that their little girl wanted to tell her Mommy everything she'd missed while she was away.

The visiting covens and nomadic vampires were all crowded in. Most were simply curious about what Bella and Hannah could possibly do to help the situation. Tanya's curiosity was tainted with jealousy, but Edward did nothing to rebuke her, because her envy did nothing to diminish her loyalty to the mission.

Eventually Bella sighed. Edward could tell she wanted to deal with the Volturi situation before hearing every little detail of her daughter's life while she was away. Allegra took a bit of a breather and Bella jumped at the chance to get a word in.

"Alice? Could you get me a jar of peanut butter?" That wasn't what Edward expected to hear. Perhaps something along the lines of 'Jasper, could you calm her down or put her to sleep?' But no, peanut butter.

Alice danced to the kitchen and was back in the living room with a jar of peanut butter in a few seconds. Bella took it with a "thank you" and had Edward open the jar. She stuck her finger into the creamy concoction and stealthily sunk her finger into Allegra's mouth. Allegra stopped talking immediately, sucking on Bella's finger. She cleaned off her Mommy's finger in record time and Bella covered in finger in peanut butter yet again.

"Mommy's finger tastes like peanut-" Allegra started to say before Bella maneuvered her finger back into her mouth. Bella repeated this procedure over and over again until Allegra fell into a fitful, peanut butter induced nap.

"I can't believe that seven _vampires_ couldn't figure out how to get her to sleep, without Jasper's influence and you just stick a peanut butter covered finger into her mouth and not only does she fall asleep, she stops talking!" Emmett said, laughing. He came up behind Bella and squished her in a massive bear hug. He squeezed so hard and didn't stop until something (a bone) snapped.

"EMMETT!" Edward exclaimed. His bigger brother pulled away, horrified. But Bella was laughing. She reached over with her unharmed arm to push the bone that Emmett had broken, back where it belonged so it could heal. (Which it did seconds after being repositioned.)

"I don't know what he's going to do with himself, now," Bella said, smiling at Edward, but talking to Emmett. "He won't be able to rescue me all the time."

"He'll have to find a new hobby," Emmett said, grinning again, once he realized he hadn't hurt her. "Maybe you can marry him and show him exactly how you brought that baby into this world." Edward squeezed his eyes closed and punched Emmett in the chest, simultaneously.

"We can talk about that later," Bella said. Emmett laughed and Edward stared at her wide eyed. "And when I say 'we' I mean Edward and I."

"Bummer Bella," Emmett muttered.

"How about you put Allegra to bed," she suggested holding her baby up for the vampire to take. "So, that us grown ups can have a grown up talk," she added, patronizingly. Emmett scowled but took Allegra into his arms gently and rushed her up stairs. Bella looked over her shoulder watching them the hold time. Edward stroked her cheek lovingly, drawing her attention back to him.

"I love you, Bella," he said, sweetly. Jacob gagged, jokingly in the back ground. Bella went from doe eyed to pissed off at the sound. She turned her gaze to where Jacob sat with Kaatya and scowled viciously.

"I have a bone to pick with you, Black," she snapped. "Don't think that just because my girl likes you I'm going to forgive you attacking her."

"Almost attacking her," Kaatya said. "I stopped him for you before he got too close."

"I almost feel sorry for you, Kaatya," Bella sighed. "You have to deal with him for the rest of your life."

"If you want I can hold him down while you kick him a few times," Kaatya offered. "Just avoid the family jewels and his face, there the only parts I like."

Jacob rolled his eyes. "You'll forgive me eventually, Bells. You always do. And that better not be true, Kaatya."

"Would you stop this petty squabbling?!" Amun demanded, drawing everyone's attention to him. "And focus on the asinine plan your mate came up with to defeat the Volturi?"

"We don't plan on defeating anyone, Amun," Carlisle said calmly. "We merely hope to change their minds." Bella sighed.

"Someone please tell me what you have planned?" she asked. Edward told her. Everything they hoped would happen and all the little things they were planning in case the Volturi threw them a curve ball. She listened patiently, but Edward knew her well enough to know that something was brewing just below the surface. He was about to go on, to say something that would hopefully appease her, but she held up her hand to stop him. Bella closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead.

"So, this is what I heard. You're hoping that the Volturi, who have come to kill not only my baby but all of you as well, will stop, listen to reason and Allegra's heart beat, realize their mistake and… go home. Is that right?" she said. Phrased like that Edward understood what had upset her.

"None of us expect it to be that easy, Bella," he said.

"Of course not. That would be stupid." She turned to Amun. "I hate to admit it but I agree with you. This is an asinine plan."

"It sounds closer to impossible then idiotic," Hannah muttered.

"Well, do you have a better plan?" Rosalie snapped.

"The plan isn't what's bothering me, Rosalie," Bella snapped back. "It'll work just fine… with a little tweaking here and there, there's no way the Volturi will get anywhere near my little girl. The stupid part is at the very end."

"You mean when they leave?" Jasper asked, squinting at her. Just like everyone else in the room, he wanted to know what the hell she was thinking.

"Yes," she said. "This is probably one of the largest gatherings of separate covens coming together against the Volturi. Those bastards have over stepped their authority and I bet you anything this isn't the first time they've done it. And all of you plan on letting them get away with it. Am I the only who hears how positively stupid that sounds?"

"Bella-" Carlisle began, gently.

"Just because they leave this time doesn't mean that they won't come back. That they won't try again or try to pick each of your covens off individually for standing up to them!"

"Bella?" Hannah asked. She turned unwillingly to her friend. "You know how you have that uber powerful mental shield?"

Bella blinked. "Yes."

"Could you wrap it all snug around me and you so we can have a chat that your vampire beau won't be able to eavesdrop on?"

"Fine."

Bella closed her eyes and cringed a little and suddenly Hannah's thoughts vanished.


	16. Past Anger, Future Discussions

**A/N: The conversation between Bella and Hannah in the beginning of this chapter is mostly supposed to be in a different language. I could have written it entirely in gibberish and then translated it in parentheses but I felt that would take away from the telling of the story and when ever I try to write in a made up language it always comes out looking like Italian. **

**DON'T BE TOO UPSET ABOUT BELLA IN THIS CHAPTER. SHE'S STILL A BAD ASS, BUT IN THE END I HAVE TO STAY AT LEAST SLIGHTLY TRUE TO THE CHARACTER STEPHANIE MEYER CREATED. SHE REDEEMS HERSELF IN THE NEXT FEW CHAPTERS SO DON'T WORRY! AND AS ALWAYS IF YOU WANT ME TO UPDATE YOU HAVE TO REVIEW!!!!**

Chapter Fifteen

Past Anger, Future Discussions

With her mental shield wrapped tightly around her and Hannah, Bella listened to what her friend had to say. She didn't expect her to speak English or any other language any of the vampires would know. There were many Pagan languages older then their species and both Hannah and Bella spoke most of them. She would probably pick a language so strange and complex their eavesdroppers would think it was gibberish.

"E node mi cosa fio," she said. Perfect, the ancient Dien tongue. The first language Bella learned to speak other than English. The rough translation of that sentence was: "You're not the person you used to be."

"I know that, Hannah," Bella answered in the same language. Hannah wanted to keep this conversation between the two of them and Bella wasn't about to give any of it away by answering in English.

"Then why are you reacting the way you would have before the war?" she asked. Bella sighed and looked aimlessly at the confused faces all around them. "And I can't believe that all you had to object to in that plan is letting the Volturi go without administering your own form of justice. You're acting like this plan they came up with is your only option."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you have any idea how easy it would be to take all of these people back to Tunisia? It's not like they'd stick out or anything. I'm ninety something for crap's sake and I look fantastic!" She was waving her arms around dramatically confusing the on lookers even more. "I mean you weren't planning on staying here, were you?"

"I hadn't really thought about it," Bella said, honestly. Hannah sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"If you say this to anyone, and I mean anyone, Isabella Swan, I will cheerfully attempt to kill you, because we both know that it would be stupid easy for you to kill me… Whatever! You're my best friend and I can't lose you."

"That's something I have to talk to Edward about."

"It's not the only thing you have to talk to Edward about. Were you planning on telling him what you've been up to for the past sixty years? I don't know what you're so worried about, to be honest. He's a vampire, it's not like he can pass judgment."

"He killed people for nourishment, Hannah. I killed people for money. It's very different," Bella snapped.

"You've forgiven him for his past, why can't you forgive yourself for yours? Why can't you trust him enough to love you no matter the choices you've made? And it's not like he was forced to feed from humans, he made a choice the same as you."

Bella shook her head. "It is not the same."

"Well, I think that's something you should let him decide. Honestly, Bella, how do expect to talk about the future when you refuse to face your past?"

"That's enough, Hannah," Bella said in English, thus ending their private discussion. She kept her shield around Hannah for a moment giving her friend the time to collect and block her thoughts.

"Whatever, Bella." Hannah stood up and headed for the door, then turned back. "Just remember the plan they came up with isn't the only way to figure this shit out," she said in English. "You could very easily take Allegra, yourself, your boyfriend and the rest of his family back where you came from.

"The rest of these morons could split and the Volturi would show up in a week to an empty house. They'd never be able to find you!.... Or better yet, you could go to James and remind him that you did a huge favor for him and it's about time he paid you back, by coming to your aid with his ARMY in tow. But that's on you." She left.

Bella stared blankly at the coffee table in front of her. "Can I have a moment alone with the Cullens please," she asked, calmly. The room cleared out quickly and quietly. Edward shifted closer to her and Alice sat down on her other side, taking her hand. "I'm sure you've wondered what exactly I've been up to. What happened to make me go off with some man I barely knew to do a job he hardly described…." She bit her lip.

"Yes, we've all been curious," Carlisle said.

---

"I met James at a coffee shop in Port Angeles. I'd gone into town a few weeks before with Jessica… suffice to say the time we spent there didn't end well. But that's not the point. I went back looking for someone we'd run into, someone I thought I knew. I was so lonely. Jacob had stopped spending time with me, stopped talking to me even. I felt abandoned all over again."

Edward squeezed his eyes shut. This was a conversation he'd been hoping to have strictly between the two of them and sometime in the future. The explanations of why they'd done certainly things, why they had behaved in certain ways, what they were going to do now that things were coming together again. He'd been hoping to have this conversation in the distant future, after the Volturi had been taken care of and things settled down a bit.

"I drove past this coffee shop and saw the most beautiful car parked in front of it…. I thought, I hoped, it was one of you guys… so I went in and there he was."

"There who was?" Carlisle asked, gently. Bella's eyes were full of tears, but they didn't look like tears of sadness to Edward. They looked like tears of shame.

"James. I can't tell you why I sat down, I can't tell you why I talked to him, why I believed him. I can't tell you because I don't know. He made it seem like if I went with him, everything would be better. He knew I was pain and he said he knew how to make it go away. All I needed to do was go with him, to his homeland, train for a few years and then do a job for him.

"I felt so weak, so tired of being lonely and sad, tired of being left by the people who claimed to care about me. So I barely questioned him, I raced home in his car, leaving my truck outside the coffee shop and I packed, said goodbye to Charlie and left. It wasn't until I got there and he gave me an ingenious little shot that I found out exactly what he wanted me to do.

"He'd told me in the shop that it would be exciting, adventurous and so many other things. I jumped at the chance, in fact I was so excited it didn't really faze me when he told I'd be killing people for him."

The room was silent. The vampires listening outside were silent. Edward stood up slowly and looked down at Bella. His beautiful innocent Bella. He'd wanted so much for her when he left. A real life, with human friends, human loves and human losses. He'd wanted to preserve the wonderful innocence he'd so adored in her. It was one of the main reasons he'd forced himself to go. _She_ was too pure for _him_.

But not anymore.

She'd been gone for five years in his world, but sixty in hers. Sixty years of killing for the king. It all made sense, now. All of the puzzle pieces had finally fallen perfectly into place. The knife in the painting. The dangerous job she couldn't do while pregnant. The missions she wouldn't give her all for now that she had a child.

Bella dropped her head into her hands and started shaking. She was crying.

"And I liked it!" she exclaimed. "I liked killing people. Channeling into them the hurt that festered inside of me. Making those evil strangers hurt the way I hurt. It was satisfying to know that I wasn't the person you left, Edward. It was good for so long to no longer think of myself as some weak little human who fell apart when her boyfriend dumped her!"

Bella cried for a few minutes, not in sadness, but in shame. Edward could feel the emotions running through her from Jasper. Shame, anger, fear. He just wished he knew what she was afraid of. Finally she wiped her eyes on the tissue Alice had handed to her, caught her breath and continued talking.

"After the war I realized that no amount of time or violence was going to make me whole again. Without you, Edward, I'm just a shell of a person. I realized that, I accepted that. I hated it. I hated myself, I hated my job, I hated my life! I got pregnant, drunk in the men's room of a dirty bar, on the anniversary of the day you broke up with me. Because even after sixty years I was still the broken little girl that James talked into killing people." She laughed, humorlessly at her own stupidity.

"The reason, the real reason that I forced Allegra to be your daughter and not Jon's is because I thought _that_ would fix me. That it would put me back together again… It got rid of the job, which was nice, but it didn't make me feel any better. I'd look her, my precious little baby and I'd see you and my heart would break all over again."

Edward sat down again. He took her face in his hands and wiped away the tears leaking out of her eyes. She refused to meet his eyes and instead did something amazing. She pulled back the shield from her mind. She showed him exactly what she'd been doing in the years they'd been apart. He gasped as her thoughts flooded his mind. Images of exact killings, masses of prone bodies being torn apart and buried, battles that seemed endless. Violence, horrible, bloody and absolute. Her memories, her past.

Bella's thoughts went quiet and Edward sighed. Not in relief but in guilt. If he hadn't left her she wouldn't have been so broken, so weak and easily taken by James. Just as he thought, angered by that weakness, saddened enough to turn to liquor and a man she cared nothing for. Allegra was the silver lining. The only good to come from this horrible situation.

"Bella?" he asked. She still wouldn't meet his eyes. "Bella, please look at me." She finally met his gaze. "Did James ever make you kill an innocent?"

"No. Of course not. They were war criminals, murderers, rapists, the dregs of society," she said. Edward sighed, this time in relief.

"That's not any worse then what I did," he said. "Remember, Bella? Do you remember when I told you about my time feeding from humans?" Bella began to cry again, but nodded. "I thought I'd be immune to the guilt because I knew the evil thoughts in the minds of my prey. I knew my victims were really villains, just like you-"

"It's not the same, Edward!" she yelled. "I didn't kill those people for food. I killed them for money." She shook her head. "I'm no better then a whore."

"No! No, Bella, no!"

"I did horrible things for a pay check."

"You did those things to survive," Jasper said.

"What? No," Bella said, staring at Jasper, confused.

"If you had refused James after he turned you into a Dien, what do you think he would have done?" he asked, a sage look on his face. Bella gaped at him. "He would have gotten rid of you, Bella. You had no choice after you agreed to go with him, after he gave you that shot.

"After I was turned into a vampire, I thought I had a choice about my afterlife but I was wrong. If I hadn't done what Maria, the vampire who changed me, told me to do she would have killed me or hurt me in some way until I complied. I thought I chose to follow her, I thought I was doing the right thing for a long time. And I enjoyed it too, Bella. I knew it was bad to battle every night, to kill young vampires that never asked for this life, I knew it was bad and I liked it.

"But I changed, Bella. I realized what I was doing was wrong, not right. My conscious grew out of the hate Maria breed in me, and I could change. My acts were made from ignorance, yours from anger. Neither any great sin. I forgave myself, it's time you did the same."

Edward looked around, searching the thoughts of his family. Carlisle was patient as always, never judgmental. Esme was sad that Bella was sad. Alice and Jasper, forgiving. Emmett curious about Bella's skill level and Rosalie angry she couldn't play mommy for Allegra anymore. She couldn't care less about Bella's violent past. But they were all understanding.

"None of us blame you for what happened," he said, truthfully. The rest of the family nodded in agreement, even Rosalie.

"How can you forgive me when I can't forgive myself?" she asked.

"That's just something we'll have to work on," Alice said.

"You can't feel guilty forever," Emmett said. "At least you've never killed an innocent. All the people you went after were bad guys. I've killed plenty innocents when I was a young vampire and you don't see me wallowing in guilt." Emmett grinned, like everything he said was one big joke.

Bella laughed through her tears and Edward kissed her sweetly on the lips.

"Now, what was that that Hannah said about us just leaving?" Carlisle said, gently changing the subject.

"I could take us all back to Tunisia, the Empire I was living in, and the Volturi would never be able to find us," Bella said, wiping away her tears.

"Sounds like a plan, let's go," Emmett said.

"Sounds like an extremely short sighted plan," Bella corrected. "Hannah's never been too good with details. She sees the trees for the forest but never recognizes their significance."

"What do you mean?" Carlisle asked. Bella sighed and leaned into Edward's chest. He held her, loving how she still wanted to be close to him.

"Even if we leave and all of your friends scatter, their scents are all over this house. The Volturi will come, they will smell them and go after them looking for us. If the Volturi are willing to destroy a long respected friend and his family over a clearly contrived crime, don't you think they'd destroy the last people to see that family before it disappeared?"

"Damn," Emmett muttered.

"We have to have this out if we want it to end. But luckily I have a few tricks up my sleeve." Bella reached into her jean pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Edward looked over her shoulder while she scrolled through the contact numbers, selected 'Portia' and pressed send.

It rang twice.

"_Isabella_," her Greek accent was thick, her voice smooth. "_I hadn't expected to hear from you for some time. Layla said you'd be getting married soon. I hope this is my invitation._"

Bella looked at Edward and smiled, his heart seemed to grow two sizes at that twitch of her lips.

"I'm surprised Layla didn't know this call was coming," Bella said, never breaking eye contact with Edward.

"_My daughter is a Seer, not a Prophet, no one, especially not me, expects her to be all knowing. I'm sure if I asked her now she would know, though_," Portia added thoughtfully.

"Of course." Bella smiled at their private joke. "You are invited to the wedding, but that's not why I called. I'd like to ask a favor of you."

"_Certainly. You've done much to ensure Layla and my safety. Anything I can do, I will._"

"I have a feeling I'm not asking anything you haven't done before."

"_Ohh… intrigue. Now I'm curious, do tell_."

"About four thousand years ago you created three vampires-"

"_Marcus, Aro and Caius_." Portia sighed loudly. "_What have they done now?_"

She almost sounded bored. Edward exchanged a curious look with Carlisle, who was remembering his time with the Volturi. They'd told him they were all created by the same vampire who charged them with leading the vampire community. At the time they'd made it sound like that vampire was male.

"They have been told by an extremely unreliable source that my Allegra is an immortal child. They're coming to Forks, Washington to kill her and either kill my adopted family or force them to join their coven."

"_When will they get there?"_

"About a week."

"_I'll be there in plenty of time_."

The line went dead.


	17. Both Pleasant and UnPleasant

A/N: Enjoy your romp through my day dream!

Chapter Sixteen

Proposals, Both Pleasant and Un(Pleasant)

Edward followed Bella up to Allegra's room. The feelings running through him were confusing. Jasper seemed to know exactly what he was feeling but felt it would be more amusing to keep the truth from his brother. Edward scowled at him, but decided to go up stairs with Bella instead of forcing the truth out of Jasper. It was an uncomfortable feeling that had Edward watching Bella's bottom as it swayed up the stairs. It had him noticing the lovely curves her legs. The heaviness of her breasts.

Edward shook his head, trying to dispel those thoughts mostly out of habit. He'd noticed her beauty and sensuality before, but having right in front of him again was making it difficult to behave. Before he had been able to stop those thoughts by remembering her fragileness and his own strength. Not anymore though. He was just as strong but she was far less breakable. It changed the way he thought about their intimacy.

Bella leaned over the edge of Allegra's crib and Edward took a moment to look over her form. She was thin, thinner than he remember, but pregnancy and child birth had changed her body in subtle ways. Her hips were wider, her bust larger, her skin looked softer more delicate. Edward remembered a college level biology course he'd taken ten years ago. The teacher was talking about pregnancy and the changes it causes in the human body. All sorts of hormones flooded the mother's body. Softer skin and larger breasts were typical after getting pregnant. Wider hips were also typical after giving birth.

_Sex_, he decided,_ that's what this is_. He was feeling sexually attracted to Bella.

Edward rolled his eyes. That explained Jasper's smug thoughts and refusal to let him know exactly he was feeling. Jasper would probably be having a good laugh at his expense with Emmett later on. Edward shook his head, again. Bella might not be as innocent as he left her but she still deserved more than a quick tumble on the floor of Allegra's room caused not by love but by unexpected lust.

Bella kissed Allegra's head, sighed happily and turned to Edward.

"So," she said. Her tone was happy, but Edward detected the remnant sadness in her eyes. He took her hand in his and led her across the hall to his room. Edward settled her on the couch, zoomed to his closet before returning to her side.

"So," he repeated, leaning on his knees in front of her.

"Layla, Portia's daughter," Bella explained, "is a Seer, like Alice, that's how she knew we would be getting married soon."

"They were all curious about that- curious about many things you did today, Bella," Edward said.

"Start at the beginning, I'll try to explain everything."

"The language you were speaking to Hannah in?"

"It's an ancient tongue, so rarely spoken in fact that it's considered dead by most linguists." Edward nodded.

"What were you two talking about?"

"The future, Hannah doesn't want me to stay here. She doesn't have many close friends and doesn't want to lose me. It's about as sweet as it is selfish." Bella smiled fondly.

Edward cleared his throat and moved on. That was a conversation he wanted to have just yet. Rosalie's screaming in his head was getting more insistent.

"If Portia is a vampire, how did she have a child?" The scream stopped, all noise throughout the house stopped.

"Portia had Layla when she was human with Marius, the vampire who created her… Ha! I thought I had a tough pregnancy but Layla damn near killed Portia. If it hadn't been for Marius she would have." Edward stared at her, willing her to understand his confusion. "Marius had a sexual relationship with Portia while she was still human. Male vampires are incredibly fertile when having sex with human females. They had sex once and she got pregnant."

Edward sighed at the sadness coming off of Rosalie. She was a pain most of the time but she was still his sister and he didn't want her to be sad.

"You had a hard pregnancy?" he asked changing the subject yet again. Bella smiled and shook her head indulgently.

"_Your_ daughter was a kicker. She broke three of my ribs! Oh, I never got any rest. If she wasn't kicking, she was wiggling. The only thing that would settle her down was my lullaby." Edward smiled.

"We're getting married?" he asked, quietly. His volume wouldn't stop anyone in the house from hearing him but it did serve to make the moment more intimate.

"Yes," she said.

"So, you won't mind if I give you this?" Edward held up his mother's engagement ring. Bella smiled and touched his cheek.

"I think you have something you need to ask me first… that's called a hint, Edward."

"Isabella Swan, I swear to love you forever. Will you marry me?"

"Well, Hannah has said that being a wife is what happens when you hit thirty and realize you're not getting any younger.. but I guess you'll do…"

Edward could hear both Emmett and Jasper laughing down stairs. "Bella please don't make a joke out of my proposal. Emmett and Jasper are going to make fun of me enough as it is. Please don't make it worse by-"

"Of course I'll marry you, Edward. Nothing would make me happier."

Alice's happy squeal was so loud Allegra stirred in her sleep.

"We can have a quickie wedding in Vegas if you want," Edward said, quickly. "I honestly don't care as long as it's official." Alice's outrage was both oral and mental. She was cursing him in her head and trying to fight her way out of Jasper's hold so she could storm upstairs.

Bella laughed. "I want a real wedding. I have too many friends who won't settle for anything but a real wedding!"

"I want this wedding to be for us, Bella. Not for any of our friend or family. For us." Alice grumbled. "What do you think?"

"I think Alice is going to kill you if you don't shut up!" she laughed.

"Damn right!" A shrill voice called.

"Alice!" Esme chastised.

Edward slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her palm.

---

Portia was the perfect image of frozen beauty. She had short curly blonde hair that she kept styled up around her ears. Her long lithe figure was complimented by her black lace dress. Layla was the complete opposite of her mother. She was short and curvy with straight brown hair that reached half way down her back. Unlike Portia she was smiling and chatting happily with everyone.

Layla was a Seer like Alice and they connected immediately over their shared gift. Edward could hear the happiness shining off of Alice from Jasper. They were both thrilled and it made the whole situation a lot easier to deal with. With Jasper in a good mood it lightened the moods of everyone in the room, and everyone was in the room. They were all looking forward to hearing what the creator of the Volturi had to say.

Portia was out on the balcony with Bella discussing what they were going to do about the Volturi. Bella had wrapped her mental shield around the two of them and they were speaking in a foreign language, so even though Amun was trying to eavesdrop it didn't do much good. Portia was upset and Bella wasn't fairing much better. Edward couldn't really tell what was being said outside but he got a vague idea from their gestures and the moods rolling off of Jasper.

He assumed that Portia had made a suggestion about how she wanted to deal with the situation at hand. Bella didn't like her idea and wasn't shy about telling her off for even thinking about it. Portia took offense to Bella's disagreement, Bella fanned the fire by not really caring and it looked like Portia was contemplating killing her.

Edward shifted Allegra off his lap and onto Tanya's. She had been sitting next to him listening to Alice and Layla talking about all the visions they had had over the years and ignoring Edward the best she could. Most of the company had been thrilled to hear about his engagement to Bella, but unfortunately Tanya wasn't one of those people. Her thoughts were mostly on what could have been, her jealousy and the barely articulated hope that it wouldn't work out. She was feeling more desperate then usual do to Garrett and Kate's burgeoning relationship.

Allegra cooed up at her and Tanya smiled wistfully at the beautiful baby. _I wish I could have one of those,_ she thought.

Edward sighed. There was nothing he could do for her. Unless she fell in love with a man who had a child it was unlikely that she'd ever have a baby. He wanted to help her, though. Those thoughts had a tendency to depress him. (Rosalie had been thinking them ever since Bella had gotten back.) Even though he wasn't interested in a romantic relationship with Tanya, she was still his friend, a cousin of sorts. If there was anything he could do for either Tanya or Rosalie he would do it.

"Enough, Isabella!" Portia snapped, her accent becoming more prominent in her annoyance. "How many times do I have to tell you? I know these boys, I raised them from savage young vampires into the rulers of this vampire world. I feel that it is only appropriate that I be the one to usher them out of this world as well."

"I completely understand, Portia," Bella said, trying to calm her down. "But you have to understand that….." Bella waved her hands around trying to grab hold of an excuse that wouldn't make her sound selfish.

She had told Edward before Portia had gotten to the house that the ancient vampire had killed Marcus' mate, Didyme when the Volturi had over stepped their bounds before. Apparently this wasn't the first time that they had falsely incriminated a coven with the intention to collect a few gifted vampires from that coven to add to their own. They'd been doing it for hundreds of years if Elaezar was to be believed. He felt pretty guilty about it considering his own gift and involvement with the Volturi. At the time he'd thought nothing of it, simply assuming that he was helping Aro prepare for battle by telling him about the gifts of their enemies.

Bella kept her shield tight around herself and Portia, even though they were speaking English.

"Understand what, Isabella?" Portia demanded.

"I don't want to be the person I used to be… and I certainly don't want you to be that person either," Bella mumbled. She looked over at Edward, he smiled reassuringly at her. He didn't want her to be that person anymore either. (Mostly because being that person had made her sad, he was sure that he would have loved her just as much while she'd been killing people. He would have tried to talk her out of it, but he would have never stopped loving her.)

"I do understand that, Isabella," Portia said. Her tone gentled as soon as she understood Bella's reasoning. "And I suppose it wouldn't hurt to stand back for a while and hear their argument before acting too rashly."

"What do you mean?" Bella asked.

The room behind Edward had gone quiet. Everyone was listening to the conversation going on between Bella and Portia. They were after all discussing the game plan for avoiding the deaths of them all.

"Those foolish boys will stop for your barricade, they will listen to your argument and the thoughts running through your precious baby's head… But they will fight back with points that will sway the minds of their witnesses. Their _arguments_ will be ten thousand times more persuasive because they are coming from them. You have a very slim chance of winning this without employing your own gift, Isabella. Too many of their guard are gifted _mentally_. It would do you all a world of good if you kept your shield around the ranks for the duration of the 'trial.'" Portia put air quotes around the last word to emphasize the irony.

"If they'll listen to our arguments and Allegra's thoughts, why do you insist on killing them afterwards?" Bella asked. The vampires behind Edward all gasped. Portia and Bella ignored them.

"Because I'm tired, Isabella. You don't want me to kill them because you're afraid of those feelings of divine justice taking root in my heart, but you must understand. I created them to serve and protect the vampires of this world… Not to abuse their power in an effort to _collect_," she spat the word, "those vampires that are gifted. I gave them that power and I can take it away."

Bella sighed. It looked like she wasn't going to be able to talk Portia out of this one. Edward ventured on to the balcony and pulled Bella into his arms. She pulled the shield from her mind and let Edward hear her opinion. She wasn't happy about Portia's decision, but had come to the conclusion that there wasn't much she could do about it. The shield snapped back into place and it was Edward's turn to sigh. He really loved being able to hear thoughts.

His proposal had thrilled her, made her smile for hours, but it seemed that Portia's proposal had had the opposite effect. Edward kissed her lightly on the lips hoping to improve her mood. They had enough on their plate, without her being surly. There was nothing they could do, Portia was powerful. She would do what she pleased.


	18. BS

**DISCLAIMER: I GOT A LOT OF THE INFORMATION AND SOME QUOTES FROM ****BREAKING DAWN**** WHICH UNFORTUNATELY STILL BELONGS TO STEPHENIE MEYER!!! FOR PROPER MLA CITATION SEE THE END OF THE CHAPTER!!!**

**REMEMBER REVIEW IF YOU WANT A SPEEDY UPDATE!!!**

Chapter Seventeen

B.S. = Bull…. Sh!

Bella looked around at the ridged formation the vampires had placed themselves in. The front line consisted of the Cullens and the Denali coven, Bella herself stood in the second line with Jacob on one side and small wolf from Lucien's pack on the other. He was incognito as on of the Quileute wolves. The rest of the Quileutes were fanned out on the back line around Zafrina, Senna and Benjamin. The witnesses, not necessarily interested in fighting were off to the side.

Bella kept her mental shield wrapped around all of them. She only had cover Sam for her protect all of the Quileute wolves which Bella was thankful for. It saved energy that could be better used in the argument to come.

Portia and Layla were hiding in the woods behind the formation. Waiting for the proper moment to make their presence known. Portia believed that the event would play out simply. First the Volturi would stop, stunned by the numbers the Cullens had amassed and the horse sized wolves bringing up the rear. Second they would charge the Cullens for their 'crime.' Third they would 'listen' and 'consider' the evidence and arguments the Cullens had. Forth they would 'question' (i.e. trick) the witnesses into believing the Cullens were guilty. Fifth they would fake a deliberation. And sixth they would convict them as they had planned to do in the beginning.

Portia was sure that nothing the Cullens had to say would sway this course of action. Both Alice and Layla had confirmed that those were the steps the Volturi would take, only Portia knew when she would interfere. She hadn't quite made up her mind about it, but according to Alice she was debating between making herself known right away or butting her head in before the Volturi got a chance to attack. She was leaning more towards the latter because she wanted make a show of it.

Bella sighed. She used like making a show of things. The more dramatic the defeat the better. That way she made an example of her targets. It was impossible to make a martyr after Bella Swan finished with you and she rather liked that. It made people think twice before hiring her for a job. That and the huge amount of money she charged for her services. People thought a lot before forking over half a million for a hit.

Edward turned to Bella quickly. He pulled her into his arms fiercely and kissed her hard on the lips. Allegra squealed unhappily. She didn't like being squished between her parents. Edward released Bella and soothed Allegra with a kiss. Her tiny baby wiggled happily in her arms and smiled toothily up at her Daddy. She had a good idea what was going on, but failed to see the seriousness of the situation. She was only one after all. But she did understand what was expected of her which was good because it meant there wouldn't be unnecessary fussing when it came time to showing her thoughts to Aro.

Bella sighed again when Edward turned back. A low hiss came from between his clenched teeth. He looked straight ahead and everyone else stared the direction he did except for Allegra who was squirming in her Mommy's arms, trying to get her Daddy's attention. Jasper glanced at her for a second and calmed her down enough for Bella to shift the child onto her back. Allegra leaned her chin on Bella's shoulder, with her hand pressed into her cheek. She wasn't showing her anything, merely holding on.

Bella smiled at her baby when the Volturi appeared. She had never seen the ancient vampires before and was rather disgusted by their appearance. Portia was older then them but by far more beautiful. She had told Bella during their argument on the balcony a week before that 'her boys' had become lazy and had paid the price with their looks. Bella hadn't understood what she'd meant at the time, but she did now.

Aro, Caius and Marcus were as pale as pure white paper and seemed just as delicate. Their eyes were filmed over, like the eyes on a blind person. Bella didn't doubt their strength, but they looked like a strong wind would knock them to the snow covered ground.

The show they put on when entering the field made Bella want to roll her eyes (she didn't, but she _really_ wanted to), the perfect formation of the guard put their rag tag group to shame, but in the end that wouldn't really make much of difference. In fact their unnecessary show of strength made Bella wonder if she should have connected James. He owed her and never missed the chance to show off his massive army. It might have been just the thing to put the Volturi in their place. _Nothing put one in one's place like an army in the hundreds of thousands,_ Bella thought idly.

Jasper gave her a curious look, obviously confused by her calm. The Volturi had stopped about ten yards away from the front line, with Victoria sneering at them from behind Aro and Caius, who were looking across the lines of defense. Aro seemed pleased to see both Alice and Edward were there and was intrigued by the vampires he didn't recognize.

"Edward?" Carlisle whispered.

"They're trying to figure out what to do next. This might be our only chance to get a word in," he muttered, equally quiet.

"Aro, my friend," Carlisle called pleasantly, taking a few steps closer to the Volturi. "It's been too long."

The silence that followed was long, thick and probably uncomfortable to anyone who thought they were in danger. Bella was just bored. She hated people who thought they were so important they didn't need to respond right away. It was disrespectful and Bella had it in her mind to teach these white faced bastards who was who. No one challenged Isabella Swan's honor and got away with it. Simply assuming that she had broken a law was insult she would have punished by death under different circumstances. As it was, her fury simply made her shield stronger, thicker and bigger.

No mental weapon would penetrate her wall anytime soon.

"Those are nice words, Carlisle," Aro said. Bella squinted at his voice. It was as thin and airy as his appearance. Maybe a _light_ wind would take him down? "They seem too kind, I think, when one considers the force you've brought together to destroy me."

"That was never my intention, Aro," Carlisle countered quickly. "You have only to touch my hand to know it isn't true."

"How could your objective possibly matter when one thinks of what you have done?" A shadow of faked grief flitted across Aro's face. Bella rolled her eyes.

She'd seen that look on the face of many of her enemies during the war. Plenty of people she used to trust and work with had joined the other side and all had feigned sadness when they met in hand to hand combat. They had all be so sure that they would win. None of them had. Aro's pretend grief told Bella that he was very confident, overly so.

It was pathetic.

"I haven't committed a crime, Aro," Carlisle said, patiently defending himself.

"Then stand aside so we may punish those who have broken the law. It would make me very happy not to destroy you, my old friend."

"No one has committed a crime."

Caius came forward before Aro could say anything more. The ugly look on his face did nothing to make he seem more substantial in Bella's opinion. He just looked like a bully and his words proved her right.

"You have created so my unnecessary laws for yourself, Carlisle," he hissed. Bella had the strangest urge to laugh at the sound. "How can you defend breaking one that actually matters?"

"The law you are alluding to has not been broken. If you would just listen-"

"We can all see the child! Do not treat us like simpletons!"

Bella tried very hard to hold in the snort threatening to break the tension of the moment. He sounded so serious, it just made her want to laugh. They had no idea what they were up against. They didn't stand a chance and yet they were acting all high and mighty. It was hilarious… for Bella anyway. She seemed to be the only who thought so.

"She is not an immortal child. She's not even-"

"If she is not forbidden, why have amassed an army to protect her?"

_Because we love her, you big ape!_ Bella thought. _You know love? That four letter word you need a heart to experience? It would explain why you've never felt it before…_

"They are witnesses, Caius. Just as like the witnesses you've brought." Carlisle waved at the hordes of horse sized wolves edging their way out from between the trees. "They are friends that have agreed to witness Allegra's humanity. Or you could just study her for a moment. Can't you see the flush of blood in her cheeks?"

"Artifice!" Caius snapped. Bella did snort at that, but Allegra managed to cover it with a very well placed and genuine sneeze. Bella pulled a tissue out of her pocket and wiped her baby's nose. Aro watched all of this with careful interest. Caius merely looked outraged. "Where is the informant? Victoria! Come here now!"

Victoria slinked to his side, upset that Allegra had sneezed all over her accusation.

"I got a fursy up my nose, Mommy!" Allegra exclaimed. Jasper reached back, placed a finger on her cheek and she settled back onto Bella's back.

"Curious," Aro said, while Caius barked at Victoria. "Be calm, my brother," Aro advised drifting to Caius' side. "It is simple. Show me what was told to you again, sweetling." He held his hand out to Victoria, who took it without question or hesitation. "It seems we have a mystery here, Caius," he said after pulling away from Victoria's hand. "The description Laurent gave her was clearly that of an immortal child, but the one in front of us has shown an impossibility in a vampire. Sneezing."

"That's what I've been trying to say," Carlisle said, his voice thick with relief.

Bella thought it was bit soon for relief, even though she also felt there was no need to be upset in the first place.

Carlisle held out his hand to Aro, yet again. The ancient vampire looked skeptically at it for a moment, before shaking his head. "I'd rather hear this tale from one of its main characters. Was I wrong to assume that the crime was not of your making?"

"There was no crime."

"That may be so, but I would still like to possess every possible piece to the puzzle." Aro's voice hardened in a way that Bella knew he thought was menacing. "The best way to glean this truth is to hear from you talented son, is it not? I can see how the child clings to his mate. I assumed that Edward must be involved."

Edward reached behind him. Bella placed her and Allegra's hands in his and he squeezed them, before venturing forward. She unwillingly pulled her shield away from Edward, it felt unnatural to leave him exposed, but she knew she had to. Behind Bella she could hear a low whimper coming from Esme as her horror broke through.

That little squeak of terror did it for Bella. She wasn't amused anymore. She was pissed. These bastards came into _her_ home town, planning on killing _her_ baby, managed to scare the living day lights out of _her_ future mother-in-law and their ring leader was about to hear every thought that had ever raced through Edward's head. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. And for the first time since she'd told the truth to the Cullens about her past she wanted those bastards to pay. They needed to pay for what they were thinking about doing. It wasn't the sort of crime (in her book anyway) that one was given a second chance for.

They had disrespect her, they had disrespect her family, they had disrespect her baby. It was all too much.

Bella's palms itched. She wanted to hurt someone, preferably Caius. She wanted to hit something, preferably Caius. She wanted bloody violent revenge for their slight against her honor, preferably against Caius. She wasn't fond of Caius. She wasn't fond of any of them. The smug looks on the faces of the guard made her blood boil. Particularly the disturbingly beautiful faces on the two youngest of the guard. They must be Jane and Alec, Edward had gone over all the guard he was familiar with before this event had taken place. Their gifts were mental, sinister in nature and absolutely useless with Bella's shield up.

Aro eagerly took hold of Edward's hand as soon as he was close enough. His eyes squeezed shut and he bent his head over Edward's hand. Bella clenched her hand on the eleven inch blade sheathed at her side. As the minutes passed, her anger became more pronounced. The shield rippled with every spark of irritation that ignited in her mind, pulling closer to her allies then pushing out again, just pull closer once more. It wanted to wrap itself around each individual, so that Bella could feel the people she was protecting more thoroughly.

Bella pulled the razor sharp blade out and started twirling it in her hand, fantasizing about gutting Caius with it. And those two little pretty vampires. She didn't like the looks of them at all.

"Oooh," Allegra whispered catching sight of the blade. She showed Bella an image of herself holding the shiny thing. She liked shiny things. Esme put a gentle but firm hand over Allegra's mouth before the pint sized trouble maker could say anymore. No one told Bella to put the blade away.

Aro straightened finally. His clouded red eyes snapped open, awed and upset. He refused to release Edward's hand when Edward tried to pull away, proving that while he looked weak he was anything but. Bella grinned, she liked a challenge.

"Do you see now?" Edward asked, calmly.

"Yes, I do see," Aro agreed, the amazement clearly evident in his voice. Bella didn't like that amazement. There was curiosity and determination behind it and that couldn't mean anything good. "I doubt whether any two among gods or mortals have ever seen quite so clearly." (see work cited at the end of chapter for proper citation)

The guard looked on with disbelief, showing them not to be as disciplined as they liked to appear. Bella watched them closely, eyes narrowed, blade gripped tightly in her fist.

"May I meet her?" Aro pleaded, his eagerness pulling Bella from her murderous thoughts. She growled unhappily in her head, wishing that Portia would just get it over with and make herself known already. She had obviously planned on the more dramatic appearance.

"What are you thinking, Aro?" Caius demanded. It didn't sound like the first time he'd snapped something to that effect at Aro, to Bella.

"This is something I would have never imagined, my practical friend." Aro said. "Take a moment to think, brother, for the justice we came to deliver is no longer necessary."

Caius hissed at his words. Not in surprise but in anger, Bella decided. The idea of gutting him was become incredibly appealing again. Then Aro's careful word choice dawned on her. 'Take a moment to _think_…' Aro was instructing Caius to come up with a new reason to destroy her family. Bella nearly screamed in frustration. She really wanted to hurt somebody. And this time she wanted Aro.

"Will you introduce me to your mate's daughter?" Caius was not the only to hiss and spit at the news. Aro moved forward with Edward's hand still clasped in his own. The guard moved forward as well, far more anxious then Aro appeared to be. "Peace, my loves," he whispered to them.

"Maybe you should bring a few with you," Edward suggested. "So they won't be so uncomfortable."

Aro nodded obviously unhappy he hadn't thought of that solution first. He snapped his fingers a couple of times and called, "Felix, Demetri."

The two vampires were at his side simultaneously. Both were dark and menacing as any medieval weapon, but unlike them Bella knew how to use those weapons and she could just bet that they'd never bother with them. The thought made her smile. It wasn't a pleasant smile. The five of them stopped half way between the parties.

"Bella," Edward called. "Bring Allegra… and a few friends."

Bella considered her options for a moment. It would be very dramatic to call forth Portia and Layla from the forest, but she doubted that they would come. The wolf from Lucien's pack was tempting, but she needed a show of brute strength. In the end she nudged both Jacob and the other wolf and nodded them forward and grabbed Emmett as well for good measure. That was the best show of strength she could muster under the circumstances.

Bella cradle Allegra in her left arm and kept the blade gripped in her right hand as she slowly made her way forward. Those vampires needed to see that she wasn't afraid of them. The blade was her way of communicating that point.

"Fascinating company you keep," Demetri murmured to Edward. Edward didn't respond but Lucien's wolf snarled abruptly, making Demetri jump.

Aro leaned his head to the side. "I hear her strange heart. I smell her strange scent." He turned his attention to Bella. "Immortality does suit you perfectly, young Bella… May I meet your daughter, lovely Bella?" he asked sweetly.

Bella squinted her eyes at him, unhappy. Someone she liked could call her lovely all he/she wanted, but this man… She wanted to hurt him, hurt him bad. Instead she pulled her shield away from Allegra so the child could communicate with Aro. It felt unnatural but Bella suppressed the feeling with calming thoughts of what she'd do to anyone who tried to take advantage of her daughter's momentary vulnerability.

"She is beautiful," he muttered. "She looks so like you Edward… Hello Allegra."

"Hello Aro," she answered in the most formal way she could manage.

Aro's eyes were bemused.

"What's going on?" Caius hissed. He was infuriated that he had to ask.

"This spectacular child is an entirely different species. Bella was turned into this species herself sixty years ago, or five years ago for us. It seems she was living in a different universe where time moved faster then it does here. She became pregnant with another man and through sheer force of will made the child Edward's."

"Impossible," Caius scoffed.

"So you think they've fooled me, brother?" Aro's snapped, Caius flinched. "Is the heart beat trickery?" Caius scowled. "Carefully now, brother. I know you love your justice, but there is no justice in acting against this unique little one because of her parentage. And to think how much there is to learn! We came here only expecting justice and the sadness of false friends, but look at what we've found instead! New possibilities we never would have dreamed of."

Aro held out his hand, which Allegra ignored. Her face was firm and determined as she reached up to touch Aro's face. His smile widened when Allegra settled back into Bella's arms.

"Pease, Mr. Aro," she said.

"Certainly, precious Allegra, I have no desire to hurt your loved ones."

Edward and Maggie, one of the vampires witnessing for the Cullens, both hissed the lie. Bella rolled her eyes. She hadn't believed him for a second. Aro didn't notice the outrage his statement made or the disbelief evident in Bella expression. Instead he turned his attention to the wolves flanking her.

"I wonder," he said, vaguely.

"It doesn't work that way," Edward snapped. He pulled himself free of Aro's hand and went to Bella's side. He wrapped his arm around Bella and Allegra before turning his gaze back to Aro.

"Just a wayward thought," Aro said, looking over Jacob and the other wolf openly. Whatever Allegra had shown made him suddenly very interested in the wolves.

"We're not their _owners_, Aro. They don't do what we tell them to. They came here as a show of support. To us and to Allegra," Edward said, firmly. Jacob growled to affirm the point.

"They seem very attached to your family, though…. _Loyal_." His voice caressed the word.

"Loyal," Bella snapped. "Like you know the meaning of the word."

Aro's head turned slowly to Bella. He just smiled.

"They're committed to protecting human life, Aro. That way they can coexist with us, but not with you. Unless you plan on rethinking your lifestyle," Edward said, quickly trying to pull Aro's attention away from Bella.

"Just a little random, unconscious thought. None of us can control our subconscious, Edward." Aro didn't take his eyes off of Bella and she didn't do anything to break that eye contact.

"I know that is true, but I also know the difference between that kind of thought and the kind with real purpose behind it. It would _never_ work, Aro."

Jacob whined quietly.

"He was intrigued by the idea of… guard dogs," Edward murmured.

There was a second of silence. Before the Quileutes could make a sound, Lucien's wolf let out a horrifying, loud and angry roar. It was so powerful that Aro stepped back, finally breaking eye contact with Bella and his guards stepped forward, reluctantly. The Quileutes added their own snarls but it didn't add much an effect after that initial roar.

"I suppose that answers that question," Aro said, laughing. He clapped his hands, then rubbed them together. "So much to discuss. So much to decide. If you and your furry protectors will excuse me, I must confer with my brothers."

"I'd like to confer with your brothers too, Aro," Portia called.

---

Work Cited

Meyer, Stephenie. Breaking Dawn. New York, Boston: Little, Brown and Company,

2008. 679- 700.


	19. Bullies and Cowards

**HEY DUDES AND DUDETTES WHO HAVE REVIEWED! I LOVE YOU GUYS IN A COMPLETELY NORMAL NON-ROMANTIC WAY!! KEEP REVIEWING I KEEP UPDATING!! ONLY A FEW MORE CHAPTERS LEFT!!!!**

Chapter Eighteen

Bullies and Cowards Make it Worth Our Time

"Aro?" Portia made her way to from the forest to Bella side in a split second. Her previous statement had been made from between the trees. The anxious guard couldn't see her and no doubt had no idea who she was, but the three ancient vampires at the head of their line knew exactly who was speaking.

Portia stopped at Bella side, with Layla standing behind her right shoulder. The young (and I use the term lightly, Layla is at least six thousand years old, as is her mother) half-vampire was whispering in the ancient Dien language, telling her mother what she saw happening in the coming moments.

Bella wasn't paying much attention to them, though. Her focus was split between the amusing looks on the faces of Aro and Caius and the images flitting through her daughters mind. Allegra was remembering what Aro's skin felt like, papery and hard, almost brittle, slat like. She was thinking about his scary red eyes and how much the ancient had frightened her.

Bella re-sheathed her dagger. She had to make a split second decision. She could stab Aro for scaring her daughter, or she could console her daughter. Bella chose the latter. While stabbing Aro would be satisfying in the moment it wouldn't make Allegra feel better and to be honest Allegra's happiness mattered more to Bella then her own.

"Bella, be a dear and step back with your family and allies for a moment," Portia said, turning her back on the Volturi. Bella backed up with Edward, Emmett and the two wolves, watching as Aro frantically waved the guard back. They had come closer to Aro when Portia had appeared. Just because Bella wouldn't get to enjoy gutting Aro, that didn't she couldn't enjoy his discomfort.

"I need to talk to my boys," Portia said with false joy. She was enjoying Aro's discomfort as well. "For they are _my_ boys," Portia said turning to the Volturi's witnesses. "Four thousand years ago," she reminisced, "I found these three little whelps in Rome. One a soldier, one a philosopher and one simple farmer, but so handsome." She pointed at Aro, Caius and Marcus, respectively. "They were all quite beautiful once. So full of life and want for more time…" Portia paused dramatically. "They were dying all three of them and I gave them a second chance at life, asking only that do my bidding in my absence."

Portia dusted an invisible speck of dust from her impeccable white suit. She smoothed away nonexistent wrinkles from her pencil skirt and flicked the sprinkled of dirt form her white stiletto heels. She did all of this with the same arrogance that Aro and Caius had been displaying earlier, except she had earned that arrogance. She was actually accusing the guilty party. The thought made Bella smile. Bella's smile relieved Allegra, making Bella smile wider.

"You see, you heard the truth of this child moments ago. The different universe and whatnot. Well, I live in the different universe with the vampire that created me and our daughter, Layla. I created Aro, Caius and Marcus to govern the growing vampire population in our absence. I spent four hundred years with them. Guiding them, teaching them, telling them everything I knew. I let them know under no uncertain circumstance what was expected of them.

"What do expect of them, you ask? Simply that they investigate every discord within the vampire society. If they find this discord to just be an inevitable part of any society, they are to let it be and perhaps suggest some guide lines to calm the situation. If they find the discord to be detrimental to the society or that it risks the exposure of our species, they are to take affirmative action to stop the discord immediately. If they are unsure they are to contact me or my creator and we will make the final judgment.

"As you can see, I didn't ask much. They were to be peaceable rulers. Fair but merciless when necessary. You see, when the immortal children first became an issue Aro had a few of his own. He studied them, as any good scientist would and came to the conclusion through his observation that the immortal children should not be allowed to exist any longer. It was a decision that broke me heart, for I had witnessed their loveliness myself, but one that I supported. Aro had fairly examined the situation and came to the only applicable solution."

Portia said all of this to the witness, keeping her back to the Volturi for the moment.

"I have only ever disagreed with their judgment once and that cost Marcus his mate."

This proclamation was met with silence. The vampires on both sides were quiet. One side in awe the other in relief. Portia's appearance meant that this meeting truly wouldn't end in blood shed. They were safe, the vampires on the other side were not. Portia had a very dangerous gift, one that she didn't use often merely because it scared most vampires so much they usually responded by acting foolishly, getting themselves killed.

"The Marcus you see before you now," Portia walked over to Marcus and showcased him, like she was some kind of demonic Vana White, "is a shallow husk of what he once was. A man with seemingly no reason to live and yet he does. Because he has lost a great bit of joy in his life, he is able to make informed decision in a way that the other two are not.

"I will of course amend this in a bit, but first I'd like to speak the informant that has falsely incriminated the Cullen family. Aro, have someone bring it to me." Portia waved her hand in Aro's general direction. She didn't look over at him, merely smiling fondly at the assembled witnesses.

Aro snapped at Victoria and directed her to Portia. Bella found it a bit odd that none of the ancient vampires had said a thing in their defense. It must have been because Portia held so much power over them and they felt so much loyalty to her. She had given all three of them a second chance at life. They owed her everything they had. If she saw fit to punish them, who were they to defend themselves?

Victoria warily made her way to Portia's side. Layla hissed at her. Stupidly Victoria hissed back. Portia slapped her. Bella knew it couldn't have hurt, but there was something wonderfully degrading about it. Portia asserting herself over her foe. No one disrespected Portia or her daughter. Victoria had to learn and Portia was more than willing to teach her.

"You will respect your elders, informant," Portia snapped. "And you will tell me exactly what this Laurent told you about Allegra. I can't imagine he told you much if you mistook her for an immortal child, which she clearly is not. Speak now before I change my mind and simply kill you."

The matter-of-fact way that Portia spoke surely put Victoria off and accounted for her slight pause. But the pause was long enough that Portia lost her patience. She sighed dramatically and raised her right hand. Bella smiled, Portia was about to demonstrate her gift. She obviously didn't care much about the audience, trusting the guard to control the situation if it got out of hand.

The palm of Portia's hard, cold, pale hand was facing Victoria's stunned, silent form. She twitched slightly, unnaturally for her species, when Portia took control of her body. Quick as a wit, Portia flipped her hand, so her palm was facing the opposite direction. At first nothing happened. Then Victoria screamed. A fire had erupted deep in Victoria's chest, sending it's embers out to the farthest corners of her body. Victoria screamed, fell on the ground and writhed in pain as the fire consumed every part of her body reducing her to nothing but a pile of glowing cinder.

The crowd was silent.

Portia dusted off her hands and smiled down at results of her efforts. She turned to Aro, then, for the first time. "Aro, I want to know what you were told that led you to incriminate a former friend. Speak quickly or the same thing will happen to you."

While Portia was busy threatening Aro, a few of the Volturi's witnesses had run off. Even a few of the Volturi guard looked like they would have liked to make a run for it. Portia was the most powerful weapon any of them had ever come across and with Bella's shield around her it was impossible to incapacitate her long enough to save themselves. But they didn't know that yet.

Jane directed her piercing gaze at Portia. "Portia!" Edward yelled a moment too late. Bella felt the sting against her shield and the multiple stings that followed when the first attack failed.

Portia turned to Edward, curious. "Jane just attacked you, if not for Bella's shield you would be writhing in pain right now," Edward admitted a tad unhappily. He knew what would happen when Portia found out Jane had attacked her.

She didn't even bother with dramatics this time. She merely waved her hand and Jane was incinerating seconds later. As soon as the screaming stopped, Portia turned to Alec. "If you get any bright ideas about avenging your sister, I will destroy you, utterly. Do you understand?" she asked, calming. Alec, shaking with rage nodded his head. "That goes for all of you." Portia pointed at all of the guard. "I created your masters, I am their master, that means that in the end you answer to me. Understood?" The guard nodded as one. "Very good. I'd like for this next bit to be more private," Portia said. "If all of the people here merely to witness the proceedings would leave now, I'd appreciate it."

The Volturi's witnesses cleared out of the field in split second. The witnesses for the Cullens were slower, but eventually the Egyptian coven left. Everyone else stayed, eager to see the punishment. Or perhaps eager to feel safe enough to go home. "Now, Aro I believe you were explaining something to me before that peon interrupted us. Please continue."

Aro swallowed, before launching into a story about how they were misled by Victoria. Her memories forced Aro to believe that the Cullens had created an immortal child. He admitted, albeit unwillingly, that Victoria had never seen the child, but heard about her from a former friend, Laurent. Since the crime was so grievous she immediately went to the Volturi and made it seem like the Cullens had been plotting against them, that they were breaking laws in an effort to usurp power.

Portia listened to the bull shit patiently waiting for Aro to finish. She then turned around and walked up to Edward. "How much of that was true?" she asked. Bella smiled and laughed quietly. She knew Aro so well.

"Most of it, in fact," Edward said. "He simply told it in a way that made it seem like it was all Victoria's fault."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Portia asked. She crossed her arms and rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"When Alice saw the vision of Victoria going to Volterra, she also saw the Volturi awaiting Victoria's arrival. The only conclusion we could come to was that they were waiting for an excuse to incriminate our family-"

"That is a lie, Portia!" Caius yelled. Allegra let out an unhappy scream at Caius' abrupt outburst. Bella pulled her daughter close to her chest, hiding Allegra's head in her neck. Allegra stuck her thumb in her mouth and sucked it while Bella rubbed her back soothingly.

"No, that is a lie," Maggie quipped. "Hello, Portia. We didn't get a chance to meet back at the house, but I can tell when someone is lying. Caius lied to you just a moment before."

"I figured as much," Portia said, "Caius never was interested in telling me the truth. He'll of course be punished harshly for lying to me." Portia smiled over her shoulder at the ashen Caius. "Now, Edward, why would the Volturi go out of their way to destroy a family they once counted as close friends? Do you know?"

"Before they came, we could only speculate. Alice thought it was because I had visited Volterra years ago looking for Bella. Aro was intrigued by my ability to read minds without touching and by Alice and Jasper's gifts as well. He asked me if I wanted to become a member of his guard, I refused, but saw in his mind that he was far from dropping the matter. Once they got here I realized that it was true. They had been waiting for a reason to incriminate our family in order to acquire Alice, Jasper and myself as part of their guard."

Portia tapped her manicured fingers against her chin and smiled to herself. "How delicious?" She sighed and made her way back to the stunned and horrified Volturi. "I think I'll start with you, Caius," she said. "You weren't the first vampire I turned- that was Aro. But you were the first I found of the three of you. I always knew I would turn you someday, it was a merely a matter of time. You were so smart! I was enthralled by your philosophical mind. You thought of things in such an interesting way, you put Plato to shame!

"But something happened, Caius. You changed after I turned you. And not for the better. In those four hundred years you went for my most prized philosopher to a bully and a coward. You have made it your mission in life to destroy any coven more powerful then yours, to destroy any person more powerful then you. You have used and abused your position to ensure that you'd always have the upper hand! You have gone from a genius to a fool."

Portia shook her head and turned away from Caius. She wouldn't recognize him anymore.

"And you Aro, my soldier. I turned you first not because I preferred you in any way. You were merely more convenient to get then Caius. A soldier disappears, who cares? I chose you for your bravery. I had hoped that together with Caius' intelligence, Marcus' perseverance and your bravery that the three you would encompass everything a good ruler should have. The intelligence to see the right choice, the bravery to make it and the perseverance to see that choice through to the end.

"And unfortunately this isn't the first time you disappointed me. The last time you went collecting, Aro, I killed Marcus' mate. I killed her to warn all of you what would happen if you did it again. You were waiting for an excuse to incriminate a perfect innocent and upstanding family just so that you could collect the gifted members and dispose of the rest. Don't try to deny it. There's no reason to question you about it, Aro. You've done it too many times to count. I forgave the first few trespasses and hoped that when I killed Didyme you would stop. I had hoped in vain it seems."

Portia locked her eyes on Caius' and Aro's mates. Her right hand came up again and before Aro or Caius could react, she flipped her hand and the two of them screaming. The ancient vampires ran to their mates just in time to helplessly watch them die.

"Now let's hope, boys that you learn this time. Go now, before I destroy your guard and leave you defenseless. By the way, I will be paying close attention to the people who came to the Cullens defense. If you are planning some kind of hunt for them in future I will know and I will kill you all. It will mean an inconvenience to me, but not one am above making. Go."

Marcus bowed respectfully to Portia, after a moment Aro and Caius followed suit and so did the rest of the shaken guard. They quickly zoomed into the forest behind them. The remaining vampires in the field were frozen with shock. Portia hadn't let slip her plans for the Volturi and none of them had been expecting her to kill the wives. It just proved Jasper right, taking the wives from the tower was a bad idea.

"Mommy, I'm tired!" Allegra insisted, thus breaking the tension of the moment.

"Yeah!" Emmett yelled. He picked Rosalie up and laid a messy kiss on her lips.

"Ah ha!" Someone else yelled. Bella didn't care much who. She was too wrapped up in her daughter. Allegra was tired and she couldn't remember how to get back to the house.

"Edward, how do I-" Edward cut her off with a hard kiss and hugged both her and Allegra to his chest.


	20. Nap Time

**A/N: WE'RE GETTING CLOSER AND CLOSER TO THE END FOLKS!!! IF YOU WANT A SUPER EPILOGE ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS REVIEW!! AND CHECK OUT MY OTHER STORIES DAMN IT! WELL I GUESS YOU DON'T HAVE TO... BUT I'D REALLY LIKE IT...**

Chapter Nineteen

Nap Time

Allegra hopped through the snow, soaking the snow suit Bella had wrestled her into. Edward smiled at his daughter and the lovely woman chasing after her. Bella looked truly exasperated, but thrilled all the same. Things couldn't have worked out more perfectly in Edward's opinion (well, maybe they could have been a little better). Allegra was safe from the Volturi and would be forever. His family had pulled through this hardship and managed to remain in one piece. Bella was back and engaged to marry him. Life was good. He had everything he ever wanted, even a few things he never knew he needed.

The biggest thing he never knew he needed was currently screaming happily that she was a snow frog. Edward laughed with Bella, who scooped up Allegra and made her way back to the house. She gave him a brief kiss as she passed, heading up stairs. Edward followed. They needed to talk.

Bella lead the way into Allegra's bedroom. Their baby, quite put out that play time was over, refused to cooperate when Bella tried to get her out of the saturated pink jumpsuit. Edward added his hands to the fray and quickly had her undressed. Bella distracted her while Edward wrapped her in the soft one piece bunny pajamas Bella had picked out. Edward was curious about the choice of outfit, but pulled it onto Allegra without question. Her intentions for their daughter became clear when she tucked Allegra into her crib.

"I don't wanna! I don't wanna take nap!" Allegra yelled.

"Shh…" Edward said, trying to soothe her. Bella didn't bother, she merely put on Allegra's lullaby. She then took Edward's hand and pulled him out of the room. Allegra continued to yell for a few more minutes, but eventually settled down and fell asleep. They smiled at each other before walking into Edward's room. Bella sat down on the couch while Edward turned on some soft jazz. "We need to talk, Bella."

"Are you going to break up with me again?" she asked, humor evident in her voice. Edward glared at her over his shoulder.

"We need to talk about where we're going to live," Edward elaborated.

"Ahh… very important talk in a month full of important talks," Bella said. Edward settled into the couch next to her. He took a curl of her hair between his thumb and forefinger and played with it for a moment.

"I still feel like you must have a death wish," he mused. "What made you think to insult the Volturi?"

"We out numbered them, and they were pissing me off. You asked me once if I have a temper, I do. You should really know that by now," she chastised lightly. Edward smirked.

"Where are we going to live?" he sighed. Bella took his hand in hers. The house went silent. The whole family listening to this conversation closely.

"Well, you guys can't stay here. It's been too long. But…"

"But…"

"We could move to my world into my house. It's huge, there'd be plenty of room and if you didn't want to do that the people who used to live next door just moved and that house is bigger. Most of the people there are immortal and the ones that aren't don't think anything of it. You guys wouldn't stand out and they are in desperate need of a good human doctor. Carlisle would be in hot demand. He could work in any hospital he wanted," Bella said.

"Why are doctor's so rare?" Edward asked, confused.

"Oh, they aren't rare. It's just that most doctors have a healing gift. They can heal anything… except dead, I guess."

"Then why would Carlisle be in such high demand? He can't do that."

"And interestingly enough that would give him an edge." Edward gave her confused look. "A few of the high end hospitals and clinics offer free health care for humans because most humans are too poor. But since the hospitals and clinics don't make any money from the patients the doctors heal them as quickly and as thoroughly as possible, so that they can tend to the paying patients," Bella said. It wasn't nice but it made sense.

"As thoroughly as possible," he repeated. Bella nodded. "What does that mean?"

"The doctors can heal everything and anything, so when a human comes in to be treated for a cold the doctor will heal all of the virus' effecting that human's heath. Along with all of the bacteria, because they don't know any better. By doing that they hope to keep that human in perfect health so they won't have to treat them ever again."

"Ohh…"

"Yeah, killing the bacteria in, say my body, wouldn't do much, I'd just grow it back and I'd be fine. But of course the human body doesn't do that. Most humans who come in with an illness of some sort have a seventy percent morality rate, so a lot of humans don't. If they get sick they just stay home and hope to get better. If they're wounded they'll go in. But otherwise… it's just safer not to."

Edward thought a moment. "Do you think I'd be able to go into practice at a hospital or clinic? I'd be able to manage anything that didn't have to do with blood. Sickness that kind of thing."

"Probably, you and Carlisle would have to go to medical school for a while," Bella said. "Even if you guys want to treat humans you'd have to learn how to treat other species as well." Bella's eyes brightened and a smile stretched across her face. "You're never going to believe this, I know I didn't. There's actually a class called Humanology. It's taught by this guy, Babblesworth, who is obsessed with humans. Most of what he lectures on is complete crap, but it was one of the most entertaining classes I've ever taken." Bella laughed and Edward joined in.

"Is your family going to have a problem moving?" she asked, worrying her lower lip. Edward watched her do this, happy that this tiny thing hadn't changed.

So much of what happened in the field yesterday with the Volturi let Edward know beyond a shadow of a doubt that her time as an assassin had changed her. Her temper, once kitten-like, was now a force to be reckoned with. She pulled out a dagger, stared murderously at her foes and even went so far as to insult a four thousand year old vampire. This was the same girl that had nearly died in his arms five (or sixty) years ago. She was just as brave, ten times as foolish, but now she actually had the skills necessary to protect herself.

Edward knew he should be happy about that, and to a certain extent he was. He didn't want Bella helpless and fragile as she had been before. He'd hardly been able to touch her then, now he couldn't possible hurt, no matter how tight he held her. It was a good thing, a very good thing, especially if they were going to get married. But… he couldn't help feeling bereft of the old Bella.

The Bella that _needed_ him. The Bella that would trip on a perfectly flat surface. The Bella that was nice to everyone, even people who weren't nice to her.

This Bella was strong, independent and…. somehow isolated. She felt separate from him. It hadn't been like this before he left and he didn't like it. He needed to have her so close, so close that it was almost like they were one person. All of those things she had done yesterday. Things that had become so natural to her, _haunted_ him.

When Bella had returned Edward noticed the subtle difference in the way she was now and the way she had been before. Not only was she more graceful, she blushed less often, didn't laugh as freely. Sometime he would catch her looking out into the forest around the house with the strangest look of longing in her eyes. She didn't sleep at night, or during the day, or at all. (Another part of being Dien, she'd told him.) She gave him short little kisses, never pressing him for more, like she used to.

There was something between them. Edward hadn't paid much attention to it before. The Volturi had been closing in on them, he was focusing on that. Now that that threat had passed he needed to focus on the wall between him and the woman he loved.

Yes, she was different and the road ahead of them would definitely be hard to traverse, but Edward loved her all the same. The little things, like her biting her lip, that reminded him of the Bella he broke up with told him that she was still in there. It had been sixty some odd years of loneliness and purposeful isolation for her. That had to take a toll on her psyche.

She needed someone to break through the walls she'd erected and pull her back into the sun. Where she belonged.

"Edward?" Bella asked. He'd been quiet a moment too long. She'd noticed that he wasn't all there, something that the old Bella wouldn't have caught. She had been trained well, trained to catch everything.

"I don't think my family will have a problem with it," he said. "In fact I know they won't."

Carlisle was intrigued by the possibility of treating non-human patients and taking the classes necessary to do so successfully. Esme was excited about buying and designing a new house and the likelihood of discovering new flower species to plant in the garden. Alice was thinking about all the shopping possibilities. Rosalie was happy that they wouldn't have to move as often or ever if they so chose.

Emmett didn't really care either way, and was focusing more on trying to coax Rosalie upstairs for 'an afternoon delight.' Edward shuddered at that one. And Jasper was thinking mostly about the emotions coming off of Edward. He didn't care much about the move either, but he was relieved that they wouldn't have to worry about being exposed anymore. It would be almost like they were normal.

Edward liked that thought as well. He wanted his family safe indefinitely and the only way to do that was to move. With the family on board there was really nothing stopping them. As that thought flitted through Edward's head he heard Esme's whispered command that everyone get packing. Carlisle immediately got on the phone to tell the Denali coven about the move. They would be sad, Edward knew (from Alice's mind), but in the end they would understand and demand frequent visits.

"Good," Bella said, with a smile. The smile didn't fill her eyes. She was happy, but not as happy as she had been before. Edward wanted her that happy again.

"Bella," he whispered. The rest of the family could still hear him, but his pitch would let them know he wanted this conversation as private as possible.

"Yes, Edward," she whispered back, laughing quietly.

"Smile for me." Bella smiled, still a gleam of emptiness stayed in her eyes. "Smile for real, Bella. I want to see your eyes filled with joy-"

"What are you talking about?" she asked, confused.

"I'm talking about the difference between you now and you before. It's all sorts of things, Bella. It's like there's all this stuff between us. I don't know you anymore-"

"This is starting to sound a lot like a break up, Edward," Bella said, interrupting him again.

"I'm not that stupid, Bella."

"Couldn't have fooled me." Edward sighed. He knew she still had some residual anger.

"I want us to be the way we were before. I want to know you so well that even if I can't read your mind, I'll be able to guess what you're thinking. There are so many things that you do now that I don't understand and I want to. I want to be so close to you that when we're apart you feel like half of yourself is missing, because that's how I've felt for the past five years-"

"Yeah, well I've felt that way for the past sixty years, Edward," Bella snapped.

"I know that, Bella-"

"Then what do you want from me? What do you want? The truth?"

"Yes, tell me, tell me everything, Bella."

"When you left me I died a little inside. It took me months to start acting human again and even then tiny things would remind me of you and my heart would break all over again. You killed me that day, Edward. How's that? How's the truth sound?" she asked cruelly. Edward cringed at the pain in her voice.

"That's not the truth I wanted," he mumbled.

"Well, tough shit. The truth isn't always sparkles and sunshine… You _hurt_ me, Edward. And that kind of hurt doesn't go away with an apology and an engagement ring."

"Then how does it, Bella? I don't like feeling this way. Like _you're_ going to leave _me_," Edward said.

"I'm not that stupid!" Bella said, throwing Edward's words back in his face.

"What do I do?" Edward asked desperately.

Bella sighed, releasing some of the anger, calming down. She rubbed her hands all over her face and pulled his knees to her chest. Edward watched her ponder their future. He'd known he had hurt her from her confession about her former profession, but he hadn't known exactly how much pain she'd been through.

"When I was training to be an assassin, my trainer told me that it was best for me to not invest much in any relationship, so I didn't. I dated a bit, went out with guys that I worked with sometimes. But neither of us wanted it to last. Dating and relationships distract from the mission and gave your enemies an easy target." She looked up, Edward shuddered at the tears in her eyes. "For almost forty years I kept myself in a forced solitude, in order to protect the people around me. Hannah was first friend in _forty years_. All those people you meet at Allegra's birthday party were acquaintances at best. Portia, Lucian, they're allies, not friends. Never friends." Bella choked out a sob and Edward pulled her into his arms.

"You never have to be alone again," he whispered. "Just tell me what to do to make this better!"

She wiped the tears from her eyes and took a shaky breath. "Make me feel again."

"How?"

"Make love to me."

Edward blinked. Where did that come from? How would making love fix their relationship? "Don't be ridiculous, Bella," he said.

Edward had been privy to the minds of thousands, if not millions of people throughout his life and he knew for a fact that sex complicates most relationship, especially ones that are unstable already. He didn't like to think that his relationship with Bella was unstable but if he was entirely honest it was. Making love at that moment wouldn't fix anything. Besides he'd waited over a hundred years to have sex, he wasn't having it on a whim.

"Edward," Bella called his attention back to her. He looked up, determined to put this asinine plan out of her head. Making love wouldn't fix anything and they weren't doing it until they were married, end of story.

"I've only had sex twice in my life, with two different men and to be honest with you, I didn't enjoy it much either time… But I've never made love. I'm not asking you for a quick fuck to make me feel better, Edward. That wouldn't work and I'm sure with your special gift that you already know that. I'm asking you to trust me and yourself. I'm asking you to give me something I've never gotten before," Bella whispered.

"Making love won't fix anything, Bella," Edward insisted.

"You're right," she said, much to his surprise. "It won't _fix_ our relationship, that's up to us. But think about what it will do," she urged.

Edward thought for a split second. "It will make our relationship exponentially more complicated. It will make you feel like I'm using you. It will make you think that the only reason I'm with you is for the sex. It will make me feel like I have to stay with you because we had sex. It will-"

Bella's laughter stopped him.

"I don't see what's funny about anything I've just said," Edward snapped.

"You're talking about other people," she said. "You're talking about people who are going to break up and think that having sex will bring them closer together when in fact they aren't supposed to be together at all. You're talking about a couple of idiots who are quite literally fucking around. But that's not us! We aren't going to break up, Edward. We are in love and when a couple is in love, _making_ _love_, not having sex, making love, can bring that couple closer. And that's what it'd do for us."

Edward wasn't convinced and Bella could tell.

"Think about Rosalie and Emmett's relationship before they first made love," she prompted. So, Edward did.

They would spend hours talking, hours kissing, hours arguing, hours in the garage fixing the cars. They would simply spend hours together. Loving the little intimate moments alone that were afforded to them. It was a simple love, it always had been and always would be. They loved and needed each other and neither of them knew entirely why.

Being privy to their most personal thoughts, Edward knew a few months into their relationship that they both felt something was missing. He'd recognized this feeling immediately having witnessed it with Carlisle and Esme. Both Rosalie and Emmett felt like something vital to their relationship was missing. Something was keeping them apart and neither of them liked it.

So, they got married. And went on their honeymoon. And when they got back that feeling was gone.

Edward was flabbergasted. Bella was right. If they did something as simple as make love, they would feel closer to each other because they were meant to be together.

This principle didn't work with most couples because most couples weren't meant to be together. But since Bella would be with him for the rest of his unimaginably long life, making love could only help strengthen their relationship as it had done for Rosalie and Emmett. And once they felt closer, once Bella felt closer to him, she would open up and they would be something like the couple they once were. It wouldn't be the same, because they weren't the same, but Edward was okay with that.

Edward reached out suddenly, clasped Bella's cheek in his hand and kissed her with all his might, no longer afraid that he would hurt her. No longer afraid that he would never be close to her again.

---

Allegra popped her head up and looked over the rungs of her crib. She'd just heard the door close on Daddy's bedroom and knew that if she wanted to make a run for it now was the time to do it. Mommy and Daddy would be too busy playing, or whatever it was that they did when they were alone to notice her expertly planned escape from nap time.

She called it her EFNT plan for short.

Allegra had been working on this plan all week, ever since Mommy came back. Sure she was happy that Mommy had returned, but she couldn't help being slightly disappointed as well. Mommy was a lot stricter then Daddy and always enforced nap time. With Mommy back, she'd spent as much time as she could with Uncle Emem and Jacob. They let her climb on them. She was sure they just thought she was being cute or something, when in fact she was being diabolical.

'Diabolical' was a word Uncle Jazz-per taught her a few days ago and it was quickly becoming her new favorite word. It meant being smart while being naughty.

Allegra clasped her hands on the top rung of the crib and jumped. This helped her get her right leg up high enough to swing it over the top. Once situated with on the edge of the crib, Allegra wiggled her way over to the chest of drawers next to her bed. From there she opened the top drawer and stepped in. She opened the second drawer, climbed in and closed the top drawer. She repeated the process until she was on the ground.

Allegra closed the bottom drawer and crawled as stealthily as she could to the door. She was too short to reach the knob on her own, so she climbed onto the luggage and held on as it jumped its way over to the door. Allegra reached up and quietly turned the handle. The luggage jumped back helping her open the door.

Allegra dropped to the floor and made her escape. Out of childhood curiosity she stopped at her Daddy's door to listen in on what was going on inside. She cringed away from her Mommy's yelling. She had only heard her Mommy yell once and it had scared the poo out of her then. Allegra wasn't interested in hearing her Mommy yell at her Daddy, so she made her way over to the stairs.

Daddy usually carried her up and downstairs, so this would be a challenge she had yet to encounter.

Allegra sat on the top step, landed her feet on the second step and brought her bottom down onto it. She repeated this several times until she made it to the second floor. She stopped at Uncle Emem and Aunt Wros-lee's door. She wanted to play and no one was better at play then Uncle Emem. But there was a lot of banging noises and groans coming from that door, so she figured that they must have been yelling too.

Allegra hated it when the growed ups yelled!

She grumbled to herself and moved on to Uncle Jazz-per and Aunt Alice's room. It sounded like they were just talking, so she knocked. Aunt Alice was good at playing too, so she would have to do. The talking stopped and the door opened. Allegra smiled at Uncle Jazz-per's cow boy boots, before looking up.

"Hi, Uncle Jazz-per!" she called. "What are you doing? Do you wanna play?"

Uncle Jazz-per smiled down at her, but he looked a bit stressed, so she reached up. Maybe a hug would make him feel better. Mommy always said that hugs were good, they made people feel better. Uncle Jazz-per picked her up, pulled her into his arms and took her inside. Aunt Alice was zooming around the room, faster then Allegra could see. It looked like Aunt Alice was taking things out from where they belonged and putting them in boxes.

"We have to pack, Allegra," Uncle Jazz-per said, putting her on the gigantic bed in the middle of the room. Allegra giggled and crawled all over the bed, forcing her uncle to follow her.

"What's pack, Uncle Jazz-per?" she asked.

"When we pack, it means that we're going to move."

"I'm movin' right now, Uncle Jazz-per! See!" Allegra got to her feet and jumped up and down on the bed. He caught her mid-hop and settled back on her bottom.

"I don't mean that kind of moving, Allegra. I mean that the whole family-"

"Me too?"

"Yes, you too. The whole family is going to move back to the house you used to live in with your Mommy," Uncle Jazz-per said.

"Really?" He nodded. "Right next door to Oliver! I'm so excited! Does this mean that I have to pack too? I should go start now." Allegra made it to the side of the bed before her uncle stopped her.

"Your Mommy and Daddy will pack for-" he stopped talking suddenly and looked over to where Aunt Alice had frozen, with a dazed look in her eyes. "What is it, Alice?"

She laughed weakly and turned to the two of them. "Edward and Bella have stopped arguing." Uncle Jazz-per tilted his head to the side and snorted.

"Took them long enough," he muttered.

"What are you guys talkin' bout?" Allegra demanded. She really hated not being the center of attention. Uncle Jazz-per was still staring at Aunt Alice, not paying due attention to the adorable baby in his arms. Aunt Alice danced over to her and leaned in close.

"You're going to have a little brother or sister pretty soon," she said. Allegra scrunched up her face in confusion. Mommy had never told her where babies came from, not even when she had asked.

"Aunt Alice, Uncle Jazz-per, where do babies come from?" she asked. Both her aunt and uncle froze. They were silent, obviously thinking. Allegra decided right then and there that she was never taking another nap. Too many interesting things happened during nap time.


	21. Epilogue: All Those Things

**A/N: IF I GET TEN REVIEWS FOR THIS CHAPTER I'LL ADD AN EXTRA SPECIAL SUPER EPILOGUE!!!! SO REVIEW MINIONS, REVIEW, REVIEW! HA, HA, HA, HA!!!**

Epilogue

All Those Things Important For Emotional Satisfaction

Isabella Swan (a.k.a. the future Mrs. Edward Anthony Cullen) had been asleep for the past hour and half. She was completely aware of what was going on around her and of what was going on inside of her. She was pregnant again, Edward just didn't know it yet. Alice did though which was why Bella was getting her hair and make up done while half asleep.

It was better in her opinion that Edward didn't know she was pregnant just yet. She was sure that he would freak out about it and refuse to continue in their physical relationship, something that Bella simply couldn't abide. So, she stayed awake for as long she could as often as she could, to avoid any suspicion. He was suspicious, of course. Bella might have been ten thousand times better at lying but she still was nowhere near as good as Edward.

Plus the longest she could stay awake for was about an hour to two hours at a time with at least three hours of sleep in between.

This was one of the many reasons that Alice had planned their wedding ceremony to be under an hour with no reception afterwards. The family was going to have dinner with Charlie, Sue, Renee and Phil but no one else. Most of the people on the guest list would be fine with the short ceremony and lack of a party. They would take one look at Bella and understand.

When Bella made the guest list Alice had been a little confused, mostly because she didn't recognize a lot of the names on the list. Bella knew that Alice had expected her to invite the people from Allegra's birthday party and maybe a few others. The sheer number 'King's, 'Queen's, 'Emperor's, and 'Empress's, 'Prince's and 'Princess's on the list had surprised her. Bella might have had very few actually friends but she did have many allies who had been very loyal to her over the years.

Alice poked Bella until she got to her feet. Rosalie was there, primarily because she didn't want to seem like a bad sister to Emmett, to hold Bella up while Alice shimmied her into the dress. A dress that Alice had picked out, hemmed and fitted so that she could get Bella into it while Bella was still mostly asleep.

Rosalie was supportive to a certain extent. She was thrilled about the prospect of a new baby, having figured it out shortly after the family moved. Edward was too focused on the move and the wedding and Allegra's relationship with Oliver to pay too much attention to Bella's strange sleeping habits. Even though he had noticed. Every time he tried to bring it up, Bella expertly distracted him.

She wanted to tell him, was desperate to really, but Alice insisted that she wait until the honeymoon. She said that Edward would be thrilled if she told him then, a little honeymoon surprise. Bella believed her and kept her trap shut, with little effort. She was so tired when she was awake that the only things she felt inclined to do was play with Allegra and then _play_ with Edward. She didn't have the energy to argue with anyone let alone Alice.

Edward, Bella and Allegra had moved into her house and the rest of the family was living next door. The size of Bella's house and the number of weapons therein had taken Edward by surprise at first. Bella was sure that he'd assumed she'd gotten paid very well for her job, he was just taken aback by how well.

Bella had explained just enough to Sue, Renee and Phil that they didn't question the child, Edward's youth or Bella wealth and strange living arrangements. They were still curious, Edward had told her, but with a little push from Jasper they stayed mum about it. Sue was used to strange things going on in around her home from her children, so she was only slightly put off by the odd way Bella lived.

Alice thrust a mound of white Calla Lilies into Bella's hand, smacked her lightly on the cheek to wake her up and lead her down the stairs. It was time to begin.

Dien tradition dictated that the bride and groom walked down the aisle together, symbolic of their journey towards marriage as one. The groom came from one side, the bride from the other, they met in the middle and he offered her his hand. The bride had the right to end the ceremony at that point, but Bella knew she wouldn't. After that the couple walked up to the altar together where a priestess waited to bless the marriage.

The ceremony itself was simple and short. The priestess blessed the couple with love, eternal happiness and fertility (unnecessary in Bella's opinion). Then the groom professed his love, slipped a ring on the brides finger and the couple kissed. The bride did the same, next. At the very end the couple was presented as married by the priestess and the ceremony was over.

Bella was basically sleep walking, making her almost snub Edward when he offered his hand. Hannah had had elbowed her in the side to get her attention. She was still feeling a little raw about their argument back in Forks so she can to the wedding wearing a t-shirt that proclaimed, "Marriage is Like Being Slowly Pecked to Death by Chickens." Fortunately Bella was too sleepy to care.

Once at the altar, Bella woke herself up enough to enjoy Edward's sweet words and his kiss. She returned his words and his kiss shortly after and fell back into her semi-comatose state for dinner. When her parents and their spouses left, Edward picked her up and took out to the car. He loved her sporty little car mostly because he could go several hundred miles an hour and it was built like a tank and could drive through anything without causing damage to the car.

James had offered the use of his private island for their honeymoon and Bella had made a point of waking up long enough to accept. As far as she was concerned he owed her big time and use of his island didn't get him anywhere near the pay back she was going to be insisting on.

Their honeymoon was only going to last a few days, partly because Bella was too tired to do the traditional honeymoon activities and mostly because Allegra would throw a fit if Mommy and Daddy stayed away too long. Plus as soon as Edward found out she was pregnant, Bella was sure that he would have her on bed rest for the duration of her pregnancy.

"Bella," Edward said, pulling her out of her sleep.

"Hmm?"

"We're here."

Bella sighed happily, stretched and opened her eyes. Edward had carried her into the small house on James' island and laid her bed. She looked outside at the beautiful sunset, pure white beach and emerald greenery and the back to the most beautiful (maybe second most beautiful) thing her world. She had been looking forward to a nice, short steamy bout of loving making and then a nap, but the look on Edward's face told her that wasn't going to happen.

"Don't you dare try to distract me this time, Isabella Cullen," he said, pointing at her. "I want to know why you've been sleeping so much."

Bella made an unhappy noise she'd heard Allegra make hundreds of times. She'd never quite understood what the noise meant until that moment. Bella had hoped to have sex, take a nap and then tell Edward she was pregnant. The guy was so anal about her safety there was no way he'd agree to short, steamy sex after he found out about the baby. She _wanted_ short, steamy sex and the only way she could possibly express her dissatisfaction with not being able to have it, was through a tiny whine in the back of her throat.

Edward rolled his eyes. He had known Allegra long enough that he was no doubt used to the noise. "Don't even try that on me, Bella. I don't need to read your mind to know that that noise is a load of crap." He sighed, looked out the window a moment before turning back to her. "Alice told me not to worry about it, so I didn't, but now I am. After you came back to Forks you never slept. Why are you doing it so much now?"

"I'm-" Bella began, before changing her mind. "Can we have sex first? Then I'll tell you?"

Edward closed his eyes and groaned. He was quiet for a moment then he rolled over on top of her and she squeaked happily, surprised at her ability to persuade her husband.

---

Edward snapped his jaws closed over the flimsy top of Bella's dress and pulled. The blue dress torn right down the middle revealing the dark blue bra and panty set she was wearing. The color was succulent against her pale, slightly flushed skin. Edward had asked Alice to get a dress that looked like the one Bella had worn in the painting. It was a vision on his wife.

The blue dress had been made of silk so thin that it revealed everything. The lacy detail on Bella's underthings, the pearl of her nipple when Edward had accidentally brushed against her breast, the unusual roundness of her belly.

Edward wasn't stupid. He knew she was probably pregnant. Her round belly and strange sleeping habits made it clear what was going on. The reason he was only 'probably' sure was because she often times would wake up and stay up for a few hours. All the research Edward had done on pregnant Dien women indicated that they would only wake to use the toilet, shower or eat. Bella would do all of those things while awake but she would also play with Allegra and then insist on _playing_ with Edward.

Bella moaned happily when Edward ripped the remnants of the dress from her body. She would have to get more dresses like it, the look of it on her body had driven him to distraction. He gave her bra the same treatment as her dress, ripping it in half with his teeth. He planned on undressing her completely that way.

Edward latched onto one of Bella's nipples. He sucked it to his mouth, punishing the taut pink flesh as hard as he wanted. It would bruise, of course, but heal so quickly he didn't have to worry about permanent damage. Edward closed his hand over her other breast, twisting the nipple between his cold fingers. Bella's back arched under his ministrations, a silent plea to continue.

They had been so physical lately he didn't really need to hear her thoughts to know what she wanted him to do. The arched back was his favorite silent command.

Bella pulled at Edward's shirt, but he ignored her. The only time he got to leisurely explore her body was the first time they made love. After that it had been short and sweet. Not that Edward was complaining. He quite liked the turn their relationship had taken. When he asked her what he needed to do to fix their relationship sex had been the last thing on his mind, but it had managed to bring them closer then they had ever been before. He knew what every twitch of her body meant, what she wanted when she moaned or groaned, what she needed when her nails dug into his back. He felt so close to her now, so wonderfully close.

Bella pulled his shirt from the back of his pants and dug her nails into the flesh revealed. She was demanded that he get on his back. He knew that and refused all the same. He was going to take his time with her, whether she liked it or not… he sincerely hoped she liked it though. All this licking and nibbling at her breasts was mostly for her.

Ignoring her silent command, Edward kissed his way down her body. He laved his tongue over her ribs making her twitch. He bit the soft skin at her hip bone, them nibbled his way down to the middle seam of her lacy panties. He lingered there for a moment, licking and kissing the soft flesh before moving up again to her other hip bone. He repeated this path several times all the while running his hands up and down her thighs, feeling the muscles underneath relax and contract.

He paused at the seam of her panties, tempting her with a promise he wasn't quite ready to follow through on, then moved to her hip bone. Bella groaned and threw her head back, in what Edward could only assume was disappointment. Edward grinned against her hip, dipping his tongue just below the elastic of her panties. Bella shivered and wiggled her hips seductively. Edward maintained his cool in spite of the erection demanding a quick bout of love making that had been the norm so far.

He would have to learn to take his time with her. Edward wanted Bella blinded by need when he finally took her. His erection twitched in his jeans. But then again… if Bella really was pregnant she probably wouldn't be able to stay awake long enough to enjoy the hours of foreplay Edward wanted to devote to her scrumptious body.

Edward growled unhappily and pulled his shirt off. He'd have to shorten his plans if he wanted to talk to Bella after this. He had to know if he was right about her pregnancy. The best way to do that would probably be to stop right then and demand the truth, but Edward knew that his self control had taken a beating since they had begun making love and with Bella running her hands all over his chest, making the sexiest purring noises he'd ever heard there was no way he would be stopping for anything.

Edward ripped her panties off, again with his teeth, moved back up her body and kissed her. The press of her naked breasts to his chest broke Edward's remaining resolve. No lingering, no sweet kisses followed by contented sighs, no teasing, no nothing. Except fast, hard love making.

Bella pulled at his belt without much success. Edward gripped his jeans and ripped them off. He had destroyed her clothing in an effort to tease her, but had destroyed his cloths in an effort to be inside of her as quickly as possible. Edward was sure that his mixed signals were confusing the hell out of Bella. The look of longing in her eyes told him that she probably didn't mind all that much.

She pushed his boxers down to his knees and wrapped her legs around his waist. Bella rubbed her sopping wet core against his hardened length, wantonly. Edward growled as the addictive scent of her arousal assaulted his nose. He wanted her, needed her, couldn't wait a moment longer-

With his hand planted on either side of Bella's head he thrust. She threw her head back and moaned as Edward found his rhythm within her. He kissed her all over her face, neck and chest, rubbing his face over every inch of skin he could reach. Soon Bella began whimpering and Edward could feel her tight inner walls spasm around him. She was close, so close that Edward picked up the pace, pounding as hard and as fast as he wanted. He'd been wary of doing so the first few time they made love, but Bella's loud and energetic response always served to quell those fears.

Bella threw her head back and forth and screamed his name as she came. The vise like hold she had on his length pushed Edward over the edge. He yelled his completion to the ceiling before falling next to Bella.

After a moment Edward looked over at his new wife. Her eyes were dropping closed and she had a sated smile stretched across her face. Bella was struggling out of her bra and Edward looked down, realizing that he had never fully removed his boxers. He kicked them off and turned back to Bella just in time to watch her fall back to sleep. Edward sighed. He usually wouldn't have bothered her, letting her sleep, but this was their _honeymoon_ and he had to know for sure if she was pregnant.

"Bella," he said, firmly. She grumbled in her sleep and rolled over. "Isabella Marie Cullen, wake up this instant." He knew that she would hate his commanding tone and wake up long enough to tell him off. She didn't let him down.

Bella sat up, crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him with sleep bleared eyes. "Where do you get off telling me what to do?" she yawned.

"I'm your husband-"

"That can change."

"And I'm worried about you," Edward continued, ignoring her half hearted threat. "Please tell me what's going on with you," he begged. He knew that Bella would like that.

"Fine," she snapped. "And just so you know I would have told you sooner if Alice had let me."

"What?"

"Alice told me not to tell you, she said it would make the surprise so much better or something to that effect, I fell asleep half way through her explanation…." Bella yawned again and stretched her arms up over her head. Edward watched the movement of her breast, swallowed hard, then shook his head. He had to focus, Bella hadn't really told me anything yet.

"What did Alice tell you not to tell me?" He'd have to punish his little sister as soon as he got back for making him wait. And then he'd have to punish his little wife for drawing out the tension.

"I'm pregnant, Edward." Bella smiled happily, clearly waiting for his surprise and joy. Her face fell when Edward smiled knowingly. "Why aren't you happy, you son of a bitch?"

"First of all Esme is not a bitch," Edward said, counting off on his fingers. "Second I kind of already suspected you were."

"Then why didn't you say anything?" She snapped.

"I wanted to be sure and you haven't exactly been acting like you were pregnant."

"What do you mean? I've been sleeping most days away."

"But you've also been awake for several hours at a time."

"So, you expected me to forgo my duties as a mother just because I'm pregnant? It seems that you've got a very unsavory image of the mother of your children!"

Bella got out of bed and walked over into the bathroom in a snit. She slammed the door closed and Edward smiled. That was his Bella all right. He wasn't worried about her anger. He would most likely find her fast asleep on the floor when he went groveling for forgiveness in a few minutes and by the times she woke up again she'll have forgiven him. The child was a blessing he couldn't have been happier about. He was sure that it would be wonderful, kind and giving.

How could it not? With such a wonderful, kind and giving mother?

**The End**


	22. Super Epilogue: Four Feet

**THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED, EVERYONE WHO READ, EVERYONE WHO ENJOYED MY STORY! YOU GUYS AND GALS ARE THE BEST!!!**

**Super Extra Special Epilogue!!!**

**Four Feet**

Bella threw herself forward and seriously considered reaching insider herself and pulling her son out. The little whelp hadn't even been born yet and he was already giving her grief. Edward, her supposed loving husband, was no help, but Bella figured that was to be expected. He was torn between checking on Allegra every five seconds (even though she was content to ignore him in favor of her new building blocks), glaring at the male OBGYN who was over seeing the birth with Carlisle's assistance and holding her hand.

Bella had to resist the urge to threaten to kill every male in the room, her about to be born child included, but she (somehow) managed to placate herself by mumbling angrily at her husband. If she had been of the mind to she would have felt a bit of sympathy for Edward. Here he was, her anal hundred fifteen year old vampire who had spent who knew how many years worrying about her safety just to get her pregnant the very first time they had sex. Now she was in the throws of giving birth and he had no idea what to do with himself. This was certainly a situation he'd never imagined having to deal with, let alone with a person he'd contemplated killing when first they met.

What had struck Bella was how easily she'd gotten pregnant. Sure it was an unsatisfying hump in a bar bathroom that got her pregnant with Allegra, but Edward was supposed to be different. He certainly wasn't supposed to be able to get her pregnant. He was a vampire for crap's sake!

_Maybe he has super sperm_, Bella thought glaring daggers at her husband. _Great, I'll be getting pregnant every time we have sex when I'm not already pregnant!_

Bella wondered if Trojan made condoms that could withstand the awesome power of Edward's super vampire sperm. She doubted it and considering the fact that her father-in-law was currently staring intently at her vagina, she wasn't sure she was willing to risk it. If the condom failed (very likely) and she got pregnant (again, very likely), Bella didn't really want to have to face Carlisle after he, once again, had to stare at her vagina for ten to fifteen hours.

Esme, Alice and Rosalie (who got infinitely more pleasant after finding out that Bella was going to have another baby) were standing to her left, taking turns holding her hand and giving much needed encouragement or in Alice's case warnings that killing and/or divorcing Edward would be a bad idea. Bella wasn't entirely convinced on that front, but her extreme discomfort kept her from acting on her knee jerk inclination. Having Edward around for when little Edward Jasper (he won the wrestling match against Emmett for middle name rights) Masen Cullen arrived would probably be beneficial, even if she could see how at the moment.

A powerful contraction seized her attention. While the contraction weren't painful (nothing was) they were terribly uncomfortable and Bella couldn't wait for them to stop.

_You don't want to kill your husband, you don't want to kill your husband, you want to kill your husband- yes, kill him, this is all his fault anyway! Him and his damn super vampire sperm!_ Bella thought, wishing like hell she'd thought to bring her gun.

Bella was about to wing it and jump out of her hospital bed and tackled Edward (too busy glaring at the OBGYN to notice his life, if not his marriage was in danger) when Alice grabbed her hand in a vice like grip that refused to let up. Bella turned her death glare from her husband, who had just left the room again to check on Allegra again, to Alice, her new nemesis. If the pint sized demon from hell masquerading as her sister-in-law would just let go of her hand she could have the satisfaction of murdering her husband. And then having a baby.

"Trust me, Bella," the demon said, sounding remarkably like Alice. "If you kill Edward, you'll regret it." Bella opened her mouth to disagree, but the demon Alice interrupted her. "Maybe not right after you do it, but once little Eddie Jasper's born you will. Trust me."

"Plus, what's a little boy to do without a father to look up to?" Rosalie added. She held a cup of water up to Bella's lips. Bella too pissed to appreciate the gesture snatched the cup from her hand and threw it a Dr. Morris, her default OBGYN. She'd been seeing Dr. Monroe for the past nine months, but the bitch who had delivered Allegra was on maternity leave do to an unexpected pregnancy.

"That was unnecessary, Bella," Esme chided, lightly.

"No! My fucking husband leaving my fucking side every fucking five seconds to fucking check on our daughter who is fucking perfectly fine with her fucking uncles- that's fucking unnecessary! If this baby isn't out of me in the next ten seconds I'll start throwing all these expensive machines at my doctors! Is that unnecessary too?!" Bella screamed.

"Shhh, Bella," Edward said, taking up his post by her side. "Do you really want the first thing our son hears to be you swearing or threatening bodily harm?"

"I swear to whatever God is listening that if you leave my side one more time I will kill and eat you," Bella promised. Emmett's laughter rang through the hospital room, but before Bella could build up a good long scream at her brother-in-law, a more powerful contraction hit. She threw her body back into the bed and moaned.

"Bella!" Edward grasped her hand and looked frantically at Dr. Morris. "What's happening?"

"SHE HAVING A BABY!!" Emmett yelled from the waiting room. Edward growled and moved to leave the room (yet again) and attack his big mouth brother, but Bella stopped him before he could.

"I will kill and eat you," she hissed.

"She's crowning," Dr. Morris said, calmly.

Bella had a tiny bit of respect for her default OBGYN because he'd taken a hard plastic cup to the head without batting an eye. Either he had a high tolerance for head injuries or Bella wasn't the first pregnant woman to throw something at his head. Either way he took it in stride and that was worthy of praise. Besides Bella's current predicament was Edward's fault, not Dr. Morris'.

"A few more strong pushes and we'll have the first baby out," he said. Something about that statement rubbed Bella the wrong way. She couldn't quite place what seemed off about it and unfortunately she didn't really have the luxury to stop and think about it.

"Come on, Bella," Dr. Morris encouraged. "You need to focus."

_Focus right, focus on getting Eddie Jasper out of my body. Don't even think about what Dr. Morris meant by 'the first baby,' focus, focus, push and focus. It doesn't matter what Dr. Morris meant by 'the first baby.' He was probably just referring to the fact that Eddie will be the first baby he helps me deliver. That's all it meant. That is all it meant. Focus, focus, push, focus, focus… WHAT THE HELL DID HE MEAN BY THE _FIRST_ BABY!!!_

"I'm sorry I can't do this," Bella said, unreasonably calm.

"Of course you can, love." Edward kissed her forehead and pushed her hair out of her face. "You did a great job with Allegra, you _can_ do this."

Bella glared at Edward. All of the sudden he was back to being the wonderful supporting husband that had vanish the second she went into labor. Unfortunately it was too little too late. She was not having Edward Jasper Masen Cullen until she found out what the hell Dr. Morris meant by 'the first baby.'

"What did you mean 'the first baby'?" Bella asked, ignoring her husband. He'd spent the last few hours ignoring her, it was time he got a taste of his own medicine. Dr. Morris was staring at her wide eyed. "Dr. Morris, what did you mean 'the first baby'?" Bella punctuated each word with as much anger and seriousness as she could muster under the circumstances, which was thankfully quite a bit. The room had gone strangely silent, all except Bella's labored breathing. She assumed that the Cullens were all staring at Dr. Morris waiting for his answer, she wasn't about to break eye contact to find out. It was vitally important that she know what the hell he was talking about.

"Dr. Monroe didn't tell you?" he said finally.

"No, she didn't!"

"After your last ultrasound," he stammered. "She was supposed to call because they found something they hadn't before. She must have gone on maternity leave before she could, but the attending physician should have called you."

"No one called me!" Bella yelled. She groped blindly at the table next to her and threw the first thing she could get her hands on, which turned out to a vase of roses that Esme had gotten her when she checked in several hours ago. Dr. Morris managed to duck just in time and the vase shattered against the wall behind him.

"What the hell did they find?" Edward asked, his tone murderous.

"Nothing serious, just another baby," Dr. Morris said, hastily.

"Nothing serious. _NOTHING SERIOUS!!!_" Bella roared. "I'm having twins and that's not serious?! Argghh!" Bella arched her back a massive contraction pulsed through her body.

"It's time," Dr. Morris said. "Dr. Cullen, be ready to cut the umbilical cord."

Bella screamed as she pushed as hard as she could. Her scream was cut off abruptly by the scream of a seconds old new born. She fell back into the hospital bed, exhausted, knowing that it was only half over. Another baby, another damn baby! How had Dr. Monroe missed another baby in an ultrasound?

Bella glanced over at Edward. Her husband had frozen solid. Dr. Morris and Carlisle were busy doing something between her legs, while Esme and Rosalie stood over the new born cooing. A nurse brought the baby over to Bella as soon as possible. Laying the child on her chest so that they could bond. A pair of confused brown eyes met hers and Bella felt tears prickling her eyes. He was so beautiful, with a mass of brown curls on his head.

"Hello, Edward," she whispered. Edward Jasper, moments old looked his mother in the eye and smiled a toothless grin. Bella reached over to her right randomly waving her hand until she hit her husband. She kept hitting him until she was sure that he'd unfrozen. "Pay attention to your son, Edward," she said.

Bella hadn't a clue if Edward actually did. For all she knew he was dancing the cha-cha with one of the overly flirtatious nurses or more likely beating the living daylights out of Emmett. The point was that Bella was so taken with her infant son and his deep brown eyes that the rest of the world paled in comparison. He looked so adorably confused. This new world was so bright and harsh, Bella was sure that it was a lot for the little guy to take in.

She was also sure that she'd a moment like this with Allegra, but honestly she couldn't remember. All she remembered of Allegra's birth was her own tears at being all alone and her new born daughter's energetic screaming. Bella really should have known then that her daughter would be nothing but trouble. Lovable trouble, but trouble all the same.

Bella did notice when Edward gently laid his hand on Eddie's back. She looked up at him only then realizing that her vision had blurred with tears of joy. She loved Edward so much. She loved their son so much. She loved Allegra so much. She even loved the little bugger still fighting his/her way out of her womb. She loved everyone at the moment. Bella wasn't sure if it was the awesome experience of holding her son for the first time or the random fluctuation of hormones flooding her system, but she was suddenly in love with the whole world.

The moment was broken quite nicely by Eddie Jasper's twin and a very powerful, very uncomfortable contraction.

"Son of a bitch!" Bella screamed. Edward snatched their son out of her arms, as Bella sat up and pushed. She was kind of glad that that moment of unadulterated bliss was over because it meant she could be mad at her husband again.

If it weren't for Edward and his super vampire sperm she'd be done giving birth by now.

Bella looked at the husband in question and once again contemplated the numerous benefits of divorce, when she saw it. The look in his eye when gazing down at the little life they had created together. He was beyond thrilled, beyond joy, beyond mere happiness. He was all of those mundane emotions and more. Over-thrilled, overjoyed, over-happiness. And in love. He was experiencing his moment of unadulterated bliss. Bella imagined that he was wearing the same look he had on now when he'd first met Allegra. Curled in her car seat looking up at him with her sparkling green eyes and squealing in joy.

Bella lost her anger as quickly as she had gotten it. She loved Edward and was willing to go through as much discomfort as was physically possible if only to keep that look of love and bliss and joy on his face for a moment longer.

With new resolve, Bella steeled herself for the unpleasantness to come. Three babies… If someone had told her yesterday (in between jabs from Emmett about her letting herself go so early in her marriage) that she would be willingly giving birth to twins in a few hours time she would have called them nuts and then thrown something at them. But here she was giving birth to her third child.

And to think, she once thought she never wanted children.

"You're doing a great job, Bella," Dr. Morris said. "I want you to push extra hard on my cue. Can you do that for me?"

"Don't patronize me, you slack jawed asshole!" Bella answered.

"All right. Push now!"

"Arghh!" Bella pushed with all her might. She was mildly surprised she didn't pop a blood vessel in the process. All of the sudden Edward was by her side again… without their baby boy. Bella lost her focus for a split second. "Where is he? Where's Eddie Jasper? Where's my son?" she asked between gasps.

"It's okay, love," Edward said soothingly. "Rosalie and one of the nurses are cleaning and dressing him." She looked past him and saw the bemused eyes of her son peaking over Rosalie's shoulder.

"Oh." Bella laid back and sighed in relief.

"Bella," Dr. Morris said. "I need your attention on me for a little bit longer."

"Oh, right. Having a baby," she said. "Need to focus."

"Push again, Bella," Carlisle said. "Push hard." Bella gritted her teeth and pushed and pushed and pushed. She took a few seconds to catch her breath and then pushed and pushed and pushed some more. A breather and more pushing. Another breather and much more pushing.

Bella wasn't entirely sure how long she'd been pushing, but it felt like forever. Eddie was in cradled in Edward's arms again and it seemed that the two of them were getting lost in each other's eyes. Or at least Edward was getting lost in Eddie's eyes. The new born was too distracted by his Daddy's messy hair and the fact that he was an infant to notice the look of love and adoration on his father's face. During one of her breathers between pushing, Bella reached over to stroke Edward's cheek lovingly. He looked up at her with so much pride shining in his eyes.

"She's crowning," Dr. Morris said. "Dr. Cullen?"

"I'm ready," Carlisle said.

"Arrrgghhh!" Bella screeched as she pushed with everything she had. She finally felt the baby part ways with her body and fell back onto the bed, mentally exhausted. "That's it," she gasped. "I'm never having another child for as long as I live. Never, never, never, never, never again."

Dr. Morris glanced at her and then at Edward, obviously concerned, while Carlisle managed to deliver the Placenta. Alice was rolling her eyes, Rosalie looked a little put out that there wouldn't be anymore babies and Esme was just as concerned as Dr. Morris. She seemed to realize that the only real way to ensure that there would be no more babies was if Bella and Edward never had sex again. Something that Bella was completely aware of.

"Ummm…" Edward said. "It's that something we should talk about, alone."

"A bouncing baby boy," Dr. Morris said, laying the newborn on Bella's chest.

Bella cradled her son close and gazed happily into his pretty blue eyes. He seemed to be identical to his older brother except for his eyes that he must have gotten from Renee. He wore the same look of bemused confusion that Bella so adored on a newborn. She was glad for the different eye colors because that meant she'd be able to tell the difference between her boys.

"Bella?" Edward said, pulling her attention away from her lovable little buddle of joy. She looked up at him questioningly. "Isn't us having more kids something that we should discuss in private, together?"

"Oh, sure," she said. He relaxed. "But only if you plan on having the next one."

---

Edward wasn't sure how to answer that, so he stayed silent hoping that that was the right way to respond. He knew that Bella hadn't enjoyed giving birth, but the end result (the baby) was so wonderful that he couldn't imagine not wanting to have tons of children. Sure he had been shocked when he found out that Bella was having two babies instead of the one that they had been expecting. But that revolved more around confusion.

How had he, a vampire, with super hearing and everything, not known that his wife was pregnant with two children?

He had looked to Carlisle for the answer but his father could only speculate. Perhaps the boys were so in-sync with each other that their heartbeats were exactly the same? Perhaps they had been positioned just so that even the most advanced ultrasound couldn't detect the other body? Perhaps it was easier for the second child to remain unnoticed because they both seemed to have inherited their mother's silent mind? Perhaps? Perhaps? Perhaps?

But no answers.

It was true that they had inherited their mother's mental shield. Edward had noticed once Bella was in her eighth and ninth month that, though he should have been able to, he heard not a peep from the child(ren) in her belly. Bella had laughed about it every time Edward brought it up. She thought it was hilarious that he wouldn't be able to read the mind(s) of his son(s). But then Bella's sense of humor while pregnant was not something that Edward cared to dwell on.

Suffice to say, her humor aired on the morbid side.

Bella had hit him until he came back to himself. There snuggled into her arms was his boy. Eddie Jasper Masen Cullen. And he was in love. Edward loved his brothers, for all their many faults (most of them Emmett's) and he certainly loved Carlisle, but this was different. This was _his_ _son_. This was an organic love, a love that knew no bounds, that built bridges, that flew to the stars and back. This was a love that came from nine months of waiting, countless hours of labor and a single act of love between him and his wife. It was the most precious, most wonderful moment of his life. It was like seeing Allegra for the first time.

Joy, so much joy.

Edward was distracted, yet again, when his second, unnamed son was laid on Bella's wasn't entirely concerned about not having anymore children. Allegra was impossible to keep up with most days, he couldn't imagine the havoc that these two boys would get up to if they took after their sister. What he was concerned about was the very real possibility of never having sex with his wife again. That was a possibility he wasn't sure he could live with.

She'd gotten rather lusty in her third trimester and Edward had gotten used to making love once or twice a day. Three times if he put the thought in her head. It wasn't the only part of their relationship that he loved, but it was the most intimate moments that he had with her. Sure every once and a while they'd catch each others' eye over the head of their cinnamon roll covered daughter and they'd share a moment of parental pride and love that knew no bounds. And those moments were intimate, very intimate. So intimate that when one of the family members interrupted it they both got pissed.

But it was nothing like making love.

Their bodies tangled together, joined so perfectly, staring into one another's eyes as they reached bliss together… Or when Bella was feeling particularly frisky it was just a short romp in the bathroom. But it didn't matter if they were making deep passionate love to one another, or just screwing around, it was very important part of their relationship. And it certainly wasn't a part Edward was interested in having end so early on in their relationship.

While Edward thought all this over and looked deeply into his yet unnamed son's blue eyes, the nurses were cleaning Bella up and moving her to fresh bed. At some point a nurse had taken the new born off of Bella's chest to clean him up and get his measurements and whatnot. Edward wasn't really paying attention to any of it, the only thing he could focus on outside of his mental musings about the state of his sex life, was his son.

The nurse (who had all but been mentally ravishing him in her head) handed the freshly cleaned infant to Edward who held him to his chest. Edward loved Allegra with all his heart and even if he and Bella had another daughter, she would always hold a very special place in his heart because she was his first child… but this, this was his son. His little boy. And Eddie Jasper, currently curled in his Aunt Rosalie's arms, was his little boy too.

They were his boys, his precious little boys.

"You're going to name him after me right?" Emmett asked. Edward glanced over his shoulder where Emmett who was grinning like a maniac. As far as he was concerned he hadn't so much lost to Jasper as come in second place. And since there was another baby it stood to reason that the silver medal winner should be awarded middle name rights. _It's only fair, Edward,_ Emmett thought poignantly.

"That's something that Bella and I need to talk about together," Edward said. He thought about this for a second and turned to his wife. "Right?"

Bella sighed and rolled her eyes. Jasper picked Allegra up and she climbed onto her Mommy's hospital bed. Allegra crawled into Bella's arms, desperately seeking some attention before both her parents were distracted by the two new babies to notice her and all her wonderfulness. Bella scooted over so that Edward could sit next to her. He cradled his unnamed son in one arm and wife and daughter in the other.

"It only makes sense for you to name him after me," Emmett reasoned. "Who else will you name him after?"

Edward took a good look at Emmett's thoughts. He knew that his brother wasn't being entirely honest and just needed him to slip for a few seconds… Ah, there it was the real reason.

"Emmett, I'm not naming my son after you just so you can beat Jasper in some way, shape or form. Getting first name rights won't make up for the fact that he beat the crap out of you," Edward said. Emmett scowled. _I might not make up for the fact that he's a quick little bugger, but it will make me feel better!_ "And stop being such a baby."

"How about we name him 'something Emmett Masen Cullen'?" Bella suggested. Emmett brightened. At least he'd have this.

"That could work," he said. "But I'm not too fond of the first name."

"Stop being an idiot, Emmett," Rosalie snapped.

"Well, if their not going to name the kid after me they better come up with a name better then 'something'."

"I was thinking of naming him Carlisle," Bella said. The whole family looked away from Emmett to Bella. She was gazing down at the boy nestled in Edward's arms. She tweaked his nose and he giggled.

_Oh, Bella_, Esme thought. Edward looked away from the smiling child in his arms to his mother. Esme was shaking with silent happy tears. Carlisle had his arm around her, he was truly touched that Bella would even offer to name their unexpected child after him. Edward looked at Bella. She seemed completely oblivious to how touched both Carlisle and Esme were. She was just being kind.

Just being Bella.

"I figured," she continued. "We named our first son after you, Edward. And your birth father." She looked up at him. "But Carlisle's been your father for a lot longer then your birth father ever was, so it seems to me that he deserves some credit." Edward smiled and kissed her sweetly on the lips. "Plus he's had to deal with you for a century."

Emmett laughed and the rest of the family smiled.

"So, we're naming him, Carlisle Emmett Masen Cullen," Edward asked, completely ignoring Bella's ribbing.

"And we can call him 'Em' for short," Emmett suggested.

"Or you could go get the nurse, so we can put his name down on his birth certificate?" Bella said. Emmett huffed and went to find the nurse with the paper work.

Edward smiled after his disgruntled brother. He felt Allegra press her hand into his cheek. She wanted to know about the babies. She hadn't been expecting babies. Sure Mommy and Daddy told her there would be _a_ baby, but she hadn't believed them and certainly hadn't expected _two_ babies. Brothers, no less.

"Allegra, Mommy and I would never lie to you about something like this," Edward said, looking down at her. "I told you that the reason Mommy was getting so…" Edward picked the next work carefully. "Round, was because there was a baby on the way."

"I didn't think you meant it," she said.

"Honey, why would Daddy and I joke about something this serious?" Bella asked.

"It was what Uncle Emem said after you tole me," Allegra mumbled. Edward sighed as Emmett's words ran through Allegra's head.

"What did he say?" Bella demanded.

"He said that you wasn't having a baby, you was just getting fat," Allegra said, with youthful innocence.

"It looks like Emmett just lost middle name rights," Alice said, Bella's eye twitched.

"Ha! Looks like I've still won," Jasper said, Bella's eye twitched some more.

"We should probably lock the door before Bella tries to kill Emmett," Alice whispered, Bella's eye kept twitching.

"Why?" Rosalie asked. "It's not like she can."

Emmett chose that moment to reenter the hospital room.

"No middle name for you!" Bella screamed.

"But! Wha? Why?!"

"Because you're fat!"

"Oh, crap."

**The End**


End file.
